- Donald Trump has chosen Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the 2024 election.
- Vance has been vocal about family policy and birth rates, which he has called a “crisis of civilization.”
- Vance supports expanding the child tax credit but is not in favor of universal child care assistance.
New vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance has strong opinions about how America can better support families.
Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy” and a former college dean, has been outspoken about his views on family and birth rates. He is deeply concerned about the declining birth rate, warning of a “civilizational crisis” facing the United States and blasting the “childfree left.”
“It’s alarming that many indicators of family formation, fertility and family health in America are collapsing,” Vance said in his 2021 remarks.
“It’s a crisis in this country that we’re not having enough babies, that we’re not having enough children. It’s a crisis that’s making the media miserable. It’s a crisis that’s causing our leaders to not invest enough in the country’s future. And it’s a crisis because we know babies are a good thing,” he added.
On the legislative side, Vance: Donation-related medical care President Trump introduced legislation to waive maternity expenses, suggesting that the funds the U.S. sent to Ukraine “would end surprise bills that devastate families with newborns and potentially save the lives of many new mothers.” He also introduced legislation to protect parents who choose to stay home from work after giving birth from penalties on employer-sponsored insurance.
“We should celebrate and promote young families, not punish them. This bill will ease the severe economic burden on working families across America and move Washington in a more family-friendly direction,” Vance said in a press release.
But he is not a supporter of universal child care, which he said “heavily subsidizes the lifestyle preferences of the wealthy over those of the middle and working classes.” He has suggested that child care benefits working parents more than stay-at-home moms. Instead, he has focused on proposals to give parents tax credits.
Vance also said he would have voted against the Respect Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and protect interracial and same-sex marriages, and he has also introduced a bill that would make providing gender-affirming care to minors a Class C felony.
Voters are not aware of Trump’s specific family policy policies. The Trump campaign recently released 20 principles that the former president plans to promote, which the Republican National Committee also adopted. The principles include measures to protect Social Security benefits for retirees and to “end inflation” by eliminating illegal immigration, but they do not mention how the administration will address family or child policies.
But Vance’s actions as a senator could signal support for Democratic policies such as expanding the child tax credit. The American Families and Workers Tax Cuts Act of 2024, a framework backed by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden and Republican Representative Jason Smith, sought to expand the child tax credit, which expired in 2021. “We are the party of families,” Vance said at the time, expressing his support for the credit, according to Punchbowl News.
“actually [have] “These are family-friendly policies,” he said. “They should make it easier to raise a child in this country, not harder. Unfortunately, it’s too expensive and too hard.”
Meanwhile, in his budget request released in March, Biden called for family-friendly policies such as restoring the child tax credit, lowering child care costs and establishing a national paid family and medical leave program.
“The time has come for America to catch up with the rest of the world on paid leave,” Biden said in an April speech. “This kind of program helps families and grows our economy. And America can afford to do it. We can’t afford not to do it.”
