Another step to becoming the parent party
Washington Examiner
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A younger generation of Republicans is committed to making theirs the parent party, and getting creative to do it. Take, for instance, Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) amendment that didn’t make it into the $2.5 trillion debt limit deal Congress passed last week, which would have eliminated the marriage penalty on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program.
First created in 1975, the EITC is the biggest and perhaps most successful anti-poverty program run by the federal government. Instead of sending recipients a flat benefit, the EITC rewards work by offering a refundable tax credit that rises with a recipient’s earned income, up to a certain point. By tying the benefit to work, the EITC simultaneously increases employment and decreases poverty.
AMERICANS DESERVE ACCOUNTABILITY ON DOMESTIC SPYING
While the EITC has been a great benefit to current working families, it is part of a larger safety net that hurts working families in the long term by punishing marriage. The design of the income cutoff means a cohabiting couple can lose thousands of dollars in benefits a year if they marry. As a result, many families that could be strengthened by the institution of marriage forgo it, leading to more instability at home, which is harmful for children and parents alike.
Eliminating the EITC marriage penalty would be a simple fix, but a costly one. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it would cost $5 billion a year. Vance saw an opportunity to pay for the end of the EITC marriage penalty by repealing President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle tax credits. If adopted, this policy would transfer money from wealthy people who want to drive expensive cars to working families where parents want to cement and strengthen their union in marriage. Who could be against that? Democrats, of course. Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda would have made marriage penalties worse.
Marriage penalties throughout the rest of the safety net would limit the number of marriages created and saved by the Vance amendment. Name pretty much any federal safety net program: Medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 housing, child care — all contain penalties like those in the EITC. If Republicans truly want to become the parent party, they should eliminate all marriage penalties in the existing safety net. Then, marriage would rebound and families begin to heal.
But Republicans shouldn’t stop there. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has offered a parental leave plan that incentivizes marriage, helps working families, and doesn’t add to the federal debt. Under the plan, co-sponsored by Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), parents could take up to three months of paid parental leave in exchange for delaying their Social Security benefits by six months. Married couples could also transfer their benefits to their spouse so that one parent could take an even longer paid absence from work.
Marriage should not be a partisan issue but it has become one. An overwhelming majority of Republicans (65%) agree that “two biological parents married to each other” is “the best arrangement for a child to be raised.” Only 29% of Democrats agree. Given these attitudes, it shouldn’t be surprising that both married men and married women overwhelmingly support the Republican Party. The Democratic Party has become the party of single women.
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Married households were the foundation of the country until 1970. From the first census until 1960, 75%-80% of all households were led by a married couple. Today that percentage is close to just 45%.
This trend can be reversed. Marriage can be revived. The Republican Party just needs more senators who, like Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), are willing to lead the way.