How a Second Trump Administration Can Help Working Families
His administration should reflect his new coalition by prioritizing pro-family policies that address their needs.
Trump supporters participate in a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Republican Party is not the same party it was when we served on the Hill, because the party’s base is not the same. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the concerns and needs of the voters who gave Republicans a likely trifecta are different than in the past. Rather than resist this reality, we need to develop, promote, and prioritize policies that reflect conservative values, while addressing their needs.
One of the areas that we’ve worked on together has been the issue of family affordability and stability. With the decline in birth rates, the breakdown of marriage, and the strain of the cost of child rearing, this policy area is particularly personal for many of the party’s working-class voters, as well as lower-income and hourly wage earners.
For too long the Republican Party has been dismissive of the needs of struggling low-income families, and due to his outreach, President-elect Donald Trump has tapped into this with his “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime” pledges. In his previous administration, he also embraced policies landing squarely in the center of our new voters’ felt needs as well, with Senator J. D. Vance doubling down (literally) on several of them. Together, these policies could be the most important issues he could advance in the next Congress. And ironically, these are issues that also have bipartisan support, which will be necessary to pass them in the Senate even with the majority:
Expand the Child Tax Credit. Recognizing the sacrifices and hard work of American parents, Trump doubled the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to $2,000. His next administration can do more, increasing its size to stop further erosion from Bidenomics’ inflation and remove penalties for larger working families. The Republican-controlled House passed the Tax Relief for American Workers and Family Act this year with strong bipartisan support. It made the credit fully refundable, indexed it to inflation, and gave the full credit to all children in larger families. On the campaign trail, Senator Vance supported raising the CTC from the current $2,000 per-child limit to $5,000.
To read the full article on the National Review, click here.
Mark Rodgers is the principal of the Clapham Group and formerly a staff director of the Senate Republican Conference and chief of staff to Senator Rick Santorum. Kiki Bradley, a partner with Chartwell Policy Solutions, is formerly a GOP House leadership aide and a presidential appointee at the Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of Family Assistance. Above is an article recently published by the National Review, where they work together to identify family first policies with bipartisan support. Read the full article on the National Review.