President Donald Trump on Thursday called for expanded access to childcare and family leave seeking to appeal to women voters by focusing on issues that Democratic challengers are emphasizing in their campaigns.Speaking at the White House, the president said families are struggling to pay for care and advocated the expansion of in-home and faith-based programs for children.

Trump’s comments came at a White House meeting on childcare and family leave, part of a push that administration officials say could help move forward legislation improving access to assistance for working parents.

House Democrats said this week that they had struck a deal with the White House that provides 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal workers in exchange for establishing the president’s proposed space force as a new branch of the government in the defense authorization bill.

White House domestic policy adviser Joe Grogan called the possible new benefit for federal workers an “important first step” toward the administration’s priority of providing paid family leave for all Americans.

White House meeting which featured a presentation by Trump’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump to spark a bipartisan effort to address childcare.The administration is also asking lawmakers to reauthorize and overhaul a block-grant program that provides childcare subsidies to low-income working families.