White House adviser Ivanka Trump listens to remarks during the official launch of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs in Bogota, Colombia, September 3, 2019. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

For a long time now, all I want to do is get people to focus on issues where we might be able to agree and get something done. That’s why today on impeachment-inquiry day, I was grateful that the National Review Institute got to team up with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the Heritage Foundation to talk about adoption and foster care (you can watch it here).


And, well, tomorrow, I hope many of you will join the National Review Institute virtually for an afternoon conversation we’ll be having with Ivanka Trump about paid family leave.

A few months ago, I was at a small White House meeting with her talking about this issue. She well-versed on it and passionate. Her concern for families seems authentic, born of a lot of study and listening. You judge for yourself.

I know that people reading this have a variety of views about the president and even on paid family leave. But for the sake of families and frankly the soul of America, we need to sit down and seriously consider how better to help families. I think this is an issue whose time has long come, and where there can be a lot of agreement (polling certainly suggests this is overwhelmingly so) and I want smart people like Ramesh Ponnuru, who has been writing about proposing policy helps for families for the better part of his career, guiding the direction of policy. Tomorrow’s program will be a conversation between Ramesh and Ivanka Trump, with a short introduction by me, as director of the Center for Religion, Culture, and Civil Society at the National Review Institute.

So please join us by livestream at 2 p.m. D.C. time tomorrow (Thursday, November 14). I look forward to your feedback. Here’s the link, which will also be featured prominently on our homepage as it is going on: