WASHINGTON — The high costs of caring for children and the elderly have led to women out of the labor forcedevastated family finances and left professional caregivers behind low wage jobs — while economic growth slows.
That families suffer is not in dispute. With the economy emerging as a theme in this presidential election, Democratic and Republican candidates have outlined ideas to cut costs, revealing their divergent views on families.
On this point, the two candidates have one thing in common: Both presidential candidates – and their running mates – have at one point expressed support for an expanded child tax credit.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who accepted the Democratic Party nomination indicated last week that it plans to build on the ambitions of the administration of outgoing President Joe Bidenwho wanted to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into making child care and home care more affordable for seniors and disabled adults. She has not codified any of those plans into a formal policy platform. But in a speech earlier this month, she said her vision included: increase in child benefit.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican, has refused to answer questions about how he would make child care more affordable, even though it was an issue he raised during his own administration. His running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, has a long history of pushing policy that would encourage Americans to start families, pushing ideas like giving parents the right to vote for their children. Just this month, Vance said he increase child benefit up to $5,000. But Vance opposes government spending on child care, arguing that many children benefit from having one parent at home caring for them.
The candidates’ health care agendas could play a prominent role in their appeal to suburban women in swing states, a coveted demographic seen as key to victory in November. Women provide two-thirds of the nation’s unpaid care work — valued at $1 trillion annually — and are disproportionately hit hard when families can’t find affordable care for their children or aging parents. And the cost of care is a pressing issue: Childcare prices rising faster than inflation.
When Harris addressed the Democratic National Convention, she first spoke about her own experience with child care. She was raised largely by a single mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who worked long hours as a breast cancer researcher. Among the people who formed her family’s support network was “Mrs. Shelton, who ran the daycare for us and became a second mother.”
As vice president, Harris worked behind the scenes in Congress on Biden’s proposals to establish nationwide paid parental leave, make preschool universal and invest billions in child care so families wouldn’t have to pay for their children. more than 7% of their incomeShe also announced the administration’s actions to reduce co-pays for families using federal child care vouchers and to raise wages for Medicaid-funded home health aides. Prior to that, her record as a senator included pushing for greater labor rights for domestic workers, including nannies and home health aides who may be vulnerable to exploitation.
This month, Harris presented her campaign goals at a community college in North Carolina economic agendawhich means the child benefit will be increased to a whopping $3,600, and families with newborns will get even more: $6,000 for the child’s first year.
“That’s a vital — vital year of a child’s critical development, and the costs can really add up, especially for new parents who have to buy diapers and clothes and a car seat and so much more,” she told the audience. Her running mate selection of Tim Walz, who paid leave and child benefits as governor of Minnesota, has also generated optimism among his supporters.
For voters struggling with the high cost of child care, Trump has offered few solutions. During the June presidential debate, CNN moderator Jake Tapper twice asked Trump what he would do to reduce the cost of child care. Both times, he did not answer, instead switching to other topics. His campaign platform is also silent. It does address the cost of long-term care for the elderly, writing that Republicans would “support unpaid caregivers through tax credits and less bureaucracy.”
The silence marks a shift from his first campaign, when he touted paid parental leave, a move critics slammed for excluding fathers. When he reached the White House, the former president called for $1 billion for child care, plus a parental leave policy pushed by his daughter and policy adviser, Ivanka Trump. Congress rejected both proposals, but Trump succeeded in doubling the child tax credit and establishing paid leave for federal workers.
In his 2019 State of the Union AddressTrump said he was “proud to be the first president to include in his budget a plan for nationwide paid parental leave, so that every new parent has the opportunity to bond with their newborn child.”
This year, there are signs that his administration may not be pursuing the same agenda, including his choice of Vance as his running mate. In 2021, before entering the Senate, Vance co-authored an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal against a proposal to invest billions in child care to make it more affordable for families. He and his co-author said that expanding child care subsidies would lead to “unhappier, unhealthier children” and that fewer mothers contributing to the economy could be a worthwhile trade-off.
Vance has pushed policies that would make it easier for families to live on a single income, allowing some parents to stay home while their partners work. In addition to his embrace of policies he calls pro-family, he has labeled people who don’t have or want children as “sociopaths.” He once ridiculed Harris and other rising Democratic stars as “childless cat ladies,” even though Harris has two stepchildren — they call her “Momala” — and no cats.
Even without details about the new health care policy, Trump believes families will ultimately get a better deal under his administration.
The Trump-Vance campaign has attacked Harris’ economic record and said the Biden administration’s policies have only made things harder for families, citing recent inflation.
“Harris … has proudly and repeatedly celebrated her role as Joe Biden’s co-pilot on Bidenomics,” said Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokeswoman. “The basic necessities of food, gas and housing are less affordable, unemployment is rising, and Kamala doesn’t seem to care.”
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