The greatest joy in life is having children. Many in the developed world have drifted from this core value, and the evidence is seen not just in birthrates, but in a culture that no longer celebrates family. However, two decades of public service, the last eight in Congress, and six more as a college professor and youth mentor have made me an optimistic man. I believe young people are returning to what has been the bedrock value of American society for 250 years.
Family and child-rearing is a source of meaning, responsibility and our economic future. As Republicans in Congress map out a tax code for the next American century, they should take tender care to ensure providing for children is as generously encouraged and welcomed as possible. With an expanded Child Tax Credit, the House-passed “Big, Beautiful Bill” is an excellent first step. Now, the Senate must do its part.
Many families say they are having one child fewer than they want due to financial pressure, with the average being 0.5 children fewer per couple. Childcare today costs more than in any other period in American history, rising over 200 percent in the last three decades and now outpacing college tuition in most states. Couples raising children usually require more space than those who are not, and so are more affected by the national housing crisis, too.
Our culture makes it all worse — we all know couples who don’t want to start families if they can’t put them in the best daycare, the top schools, the safest neighborhoods, and all those costs are significantly higher than the baseline. “Making perfect the enemy of the good” used to be a punchline for politics. Now, it’s how we live our lives. From costs to social media-induced delirium, the pandemic only made it all worse.
Congress can’t solve all of this, but the least politicians can do is ease the financial burden of child-rearing, and help those that want kids, have them. In 2017, when I served in Congress during the first administration of President Trump, we doubled the Child Tax Credit to $2,000 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
We knew that if we were going to reshape the tax code to spur economic growth, we couldn’t leave families behind. That expansion helped millions of working families breathe easier while maintaining incentives to work and contribute to the economy.
President Trump recognized early that our economic growth is intimately tied to the strength of the American family. Without growing families, we lose the next generation of workers, innovators and taxpayers. Combine President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration with Congress’s inability to reform legal immigration, and our future workforce projections shrink unsustainably. Our need for homegrown population stability becomes even more urgent.
Many developing countries today are either near a zero or negative population growth rate. Increasing the population of its citizenry sustains a growing economy. How can a nation survive if it does not encourage the growth of families? How can a nation carry on the cultural traditions which are so crucial to its heritage?
Today, that legacy is continued by the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.). Last year, against pressure from both sides of the aisle, he forged a real bipartisan compromise on the Child Tax Credit — one that rewarded work, supported children and reflected our shared commitment to the next generation.
He has captured the spirit of that compelling vision for family policy with the Child Tax Credit expansion in the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” growing the benefit to $2,500 per child and tethering it to inflation. We need more lawmakers like him — people who put policy before politics and families before partisanship.
This is not a welfare giveaway. It’s an investment. It pays off in both the short term and the long run. Research has shown that the Child Tax Credit increases labor force participation among lower-income families. That means more people working today, while the children who benefit from stable homes and better nutrition grow into healthier, smarter, more productive adults tomorrow.
That’s what I call a win-win for America. That’s the kind of winning President Trump promised.
The Senate will, of course, bring its own considerations to the “Big Beautiful Bill.” That’s how Congress works. But they must preserve or expand Smith’s improvements to the Child Tax Credit, the furthest-reaching component of the 2017 tax reforms which touched tens of millions of parents.
Republicans cannot leave behind the working class families that have flocked to them, and they must secure and expand this investment in the future of our country. The Child Tax Credit is common-sense policy that meets the moment.
Let’s build a tax code — and a country — that welcomes the next generation with open arms.
Dennis Ross, a Republican, served in Congress from 2011-2019.
