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

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

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