In her recent New York Times essay, Hillary Clinton claimed Republicans have “no answers” on the question of family affordability and were ignoring “the financial burdens crushing parents who are trying to provide a safe, healthy, middle-class life for their kids.” She is right to recognize the concerns families have, but she is wrong about conservative efforts to address them.
Last summer’s Working Families Tax Cuts (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) made meaningful pro-family progress. It extended and enlarged the Child Tax Credit, reinforced the adoption credit, and created new savings vehicles for children. These are all important provisions that help put more money in families’ pockets as they manage rising costs.
But there are additional policy opportunities to build upon the pro-family provisions in the OBBBA, which could be included in a future reconciliation bill to address affordability and cost of living.
RECLAIMING AFFORDABILITY: 2026 MIDTERMS MAY BE COST OF LIVING REFERENDUM
The March Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed prices up 3.3% year over year, driven heavily by gas. Recent Winston Group research, conducted from March 15 to 17, found that 58% of voters say inflation is getting worse, against just 21% who say it is improving. Seventy-one percent say their cost of living is rising faster than their wages. Families today are running their own household economies under sustained pressure.
When we asked voters in a national survey we collaborated on this January to rank 10 personal outcomes by importance, two rose to the top: access to quality, affordable healthcare, and the ability to manage costs of living and inflation. Inflation was the No. 1 personal outcome for Republicans, and in the top two for independents, Democrats, President Donald Trump voters, and parents alike. Both parties dismiss affordability concerns at their midterm peril.
The same survey assessed five additional pro-working-family proposals to address affordability concerns, and every one drew significant majority support across party lines and among Trump voters and parents.
For one, federal grants to help states establish paid family leave programs: 67% favor (67–22 favor-oppose); increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant so more working families can access quality, affordable childcare services: 67% favor (67–19 favor-oppose); ending out-of-pocket costs for pregnancy and childbirth: 65% favor (65–21 favor-oppose); expanding eligibility for the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by allowing families with only one working parent with earned income to be eligible: 62% favor (62–20 favor-oppose); and a package increasing the Child Tax Credit and establishing a $2,800 tax credit for pregnant mothers: 61% favor (61–21 favor-oppose).
Those are strong margins in support of policies that would help ease financial burdens for families. And what is important for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to know is that these provisions have broad support nationwide. They are the consensus position of an exhausted electorate that wants its leaders to treat the family as the basic economic unit it is. Several of them are also representative of legislation that has been introduced by bipartisan teams of lawmakers.
This is the work Clapham and The Winston Group have been pursuing for years, even when we worked together during the Bush administration. Recently, Clapham has also worked with anti-abortion organizations to help members of Congress understand that life does not stop at the delivery room, and with pro-family conservatives to advocate policies such as the Child Tax Credit, as one of the most pro-family, pro-work tax policies on the books.
AMERICA’S AFFORDABILITY CRISIS IS A HOUSING SHORTAGE. WE CAN FIX IT IN THREE STEPS
Neither party has a political advantage on affordability, but this should not be seen as a partisan priority. While she is right to recognize affordability challenges facing American families, Clinton is wrong to assume it belongs to her side, or either side of the aisle.
For conservatives, this is not a concession to the Left, and not even a partisan priority. It is what families want and desperately need to survive in this challenging economy, and they are the ones who need to win on Election Day.
Mark Rodgers is principal at The Clapham Group and Myra Miller is cofounder of the Winston Group.