Where Trump, Harris stand on easing childcare costs

The economy has emerged as a key theme for voters in this presidential election, and tax breaks are one way to ease a family’s financial burden. 

The Democratic and Republican candidates have both spoken about easing costs when it comes to raising children, though their ideas reveal their differing views about family.

Here’s where things stand now and what former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and their running mates have said: 

Issue: Current Child Tax Credit

The Child Tax Credit helps families with qualifying children get a tax break. The current child tax credit is $2,000 per qualifying child, though the full amount is not always fully refundable.

Earlier this month, a bill aiming to make the credit more available to low-income families by gradually making more of the credit refundable failed to advance in the Senate.

Republicans largely opposed the measure, arguing they would be in position to get a better deal next year.

Why it matters

The candidates' child care agendas could figure prominently into their appeal to suburban women in swing states, a coveted demographic seen as key to victory in November. 

Women provide two-thirds of unpaid care work — valued at $1 trillion annually — and are disproportionately impacted when families can’t find affordable care for their children or aging parents. 

And the cost of care is an urgent problem: Child care prices are rising faster than inflation.

RELATED: Gen Z cynical about future as majority call cost of living the number one election issue

What Donald Trump has said

Former President Donald Trump has a history of easing childcare costs: Congress expanded the child tax credit when he was president.

During his first campaign he pitched paid parental leave, though it was panned by critics because his proposal excluded fathers. When he reached the White House, the former president sought $1 billion for child care, plus a parental leave policy at the urging of his daughter and policy adviser, Ivanka Trump. 

Congress rejected both proposals, but Trump succeeded in doubling the child tax credit and establishing paid leave for federal employees.

Though his plans this time around - if any - for easing costs for families aren’t as clear, as he’s declined to say how he would make caregiving more affordable during a second presidency. 

During the June presidential debate, CNN moderator Jake Tapper twice asked Trump what he would do to lower child care costs. Both times, he failed to answer, instead pivoting to other topics. 

His campaign platform is similarly silent.

What JD Vance has said

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has a long history of pushing policies that would encourage Americans to have families. Just this month, Vance said he wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. 

But Vance has opposed government spending on child care, arguing that many children benefit from having one parent at home as caretaker.

Before he joined the Senate, Vance co-authored an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal opposing a proposal to invest billions in child care to make it more affordable for families. He and his co-author said expanding child care subsidies would lead to "unhappier, unhealthier children" and that having fewer mothers contributing to the economy might be a worthwhile trade-off.

What Kamala Harris has said

Vice President Kamala Harris has signaled that she plans to build on the ambitions of outgoing President Joe Biden's administration, which sought to pour billions in taxpayer dollars into making child care more affordable. 

She has not etched any of those plans into a formal policy platform, but in a speech earlier this month at a community college in North Carolina she said her vision included raising the child tax credit to as much as $3,600 and giving families of newborns even more — $6,000 for the child's first year.

As vice president, Harris worked behind the scenes in Congress on Biden's proposals to establish national paid family leave, make prekindergarten universal and invest billions in child care so families wouldn't pay more than 7% of their income.

What Tim Walz has said

Harris’ running mate Tim Walz has a track record of implementing policies to ease the cost for families. 

As governor of Minnesota, he established paid leave and a child tax credit.

Read more about the Child Tax Credit at IRS.gov.