Ivanka Trump worked with White House adviser Stephen Miller to include a mention of “clean air and clean water” in President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress Tuesday night, according to a source.
A senior administration official told Axios “Ivanka was working with Miller in his office in the afternoon on the speech, including the paragraph on ‘paid family leave … women’s health … clean air and clean water.'”
Trump only briefly mentioned clean air and water during his speech, but the White House no doubt wanted to quell some concerns about the administration’s environmental protection priorities.
“A week ago, Ivanka and Dina Powell [senior counselor for economic initiatives] met with the president on those parts of the speech with Steve Miller and Hope, and talked about those issues and how they would resonate in an important way,” the source told Axios in an email.
Sources told reporters Trump plans to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget 24 percent, mostly scaling back or eliminating programs on global warming, funding activists and some research.
EPA officials said grants to states and tribes for infrastructure and environmental clean-ups would not be touched. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to refocus EPA away from global warming to focus on traditional pollutants.
“My administration wants to work with members in both parties to make child-care accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents have paid family leave, to invest in women’s health, and to promote clean air and clear water, and to rebuild our military and our infrastructure,” Trump said in his speech.
“True love for our people requires us to find common ground, to advance the common good, and to cooperate on behalf of every American child who deserves a brighter future,” Trump said.
This is the first time Ivanka has inserted herself into the administration’s messaging.
Ivanka and her husband, White House adviser Jared Kushner, “intervened to strike language about the climate deal from an earlier draft of the executive order,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
