Mint ·
A sneaky attempt to save on childcare outlays could pit American parents against one another
Although the US has a high proportion of children living in single-parent households, it lacks the social infrastructure offered by many other rich countries. Reworking subsidies in a way that would pit working parents against those who stay home would be a step backwards.
Should the federal government give subsidies to stay-at-home parents? Absolutely. Should it also subsidize childcare for working parents? For sure. This shouldn’t be an either-or question, but the Trump administration’s new childcare subsidy plan makes it one.
Under the draft proposal, as previewed through a leak to the New York Times, stay-at-home parents in low-income households could get up to $9,000 a year to help supplant lost earnings. The money would come from the existing $12 billion fund in the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act. That law provides childcare subsidies to eligible working parents in households making below 85% of the state’s median income.
The policy is a top priority for Vice President J.D. Vance and is patterned after a proposal drafted by secretary of state Marco Rubio when he was in the Senate. The concept was promoted by the Heritage Foundation in its Project 2025 blueprint. And Heritage president Kevin Roberts is touting the idea as needed to “reward family foundation, not subsidize its decline.”
