During the 2016 presidential campaign, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton pledged their support for more paid family leave. Now big business is countering the calls with a proposal of its own: Congress should establish a certain optional amount of paid leave and, if companies meet that threshold, they should be protected from state or local laws that might require more.

The proposal was part of a report released Tuesday by the HR Policy Association, a coalition of more than 380 major U.S. companies. Together, the group's members employ 9% of America's private-sector workers. Executives on the committee behind the report represent companies including Marriott International, Procter & Gamble, IBM, Cigna, General Electric, Wendy's, Oracle and General Mills.

The preemptive strike from the business community is also a response to the increasing number of states and municipalities that have taken matters into their own hands, passing local laws that require employers to offer paid time off.