The federal government is reportedly pushing the idea of one parent staying at home to take care of children as Republicans push Americans to have more babies.
Officials believe this is one way to have a stronger family unit, and White House staffers are discussing several options for encouraging the idea. Several others are being discussed, including giving more families more funds for every child they have.
Republicans Want One Parent To Stay at Home
Other ideas are removing federal tax credits for daycare and opening up federal lands for home construction. Advocates believe that if families can reduce the money they spend on housing, more of them can live on just a single individual's income.
Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks recently introduced a bill that proposes paying stay-at-home parents. Republican lawmakers have suggested that the child tax credit should be partly expanded by removing tax breaks, primarily to allow working parents to pay for daycare, according to Yahoo News.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley suggested that officials should expand the child tax credit to $5,000 per child. This is in the hopes that giving families more money would allow parents to work less and spend more time at home taking care of their kids.
Vice President JD Vance, during last year's presidential campaign, also supported the idea of a $5,000 child tax credit. Despite the measure getting bipartisan support, Democrats are also backing subsidies for daycare.
While the White House continues to push a more conservative social agenda, studies remain unclear whether or not a child is better placed at daycare or home with a parent. This is because the majority of American families rely on two incomes to survive, MSN reported.
Cost of Raising Children
About 65% of mothers from two-parent households that have at least one child under 18 years old work outside their home. This is a number that has significantly risen over the last half-century.
On top of this, childcare costs have also spiked, with officials recording a cost of $11,000 for every child per year as of 2023. Additionally, many families who live in larger cities are forced to pay more than double that amount.
The situation comes as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) eliminated many positions in offices that help in funding daycare for low-income families. This is supposedly part of a broader effort to cut costs, which is led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as per the New York Times.
