Vice Presidential Nominee Sen. JD Vance speaks during the Republican National Convention Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
WASHINGTON: Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance floated more than doubling the federal child tax credit to US$5,000, seeking to reframe a “pro-family” stance that has come under attack from Democrats.
“I don’t think that you want this massive cutoff for lower-income families, which you have right now,” the Ohio senator and Donald Trump’s running mate said on CBS’s Face the Nation.
He didn’t offer specifics on who would quality if the tax credit was expanded from its existing maximum of US$2,000 per child.
“It’s called the child tax credit, and we should expand the child tax credit,” Vance said.
Vance went on three network political talk shows last Sunday after a shaky start on the GOP ticket, damaged in part by resurfaced comments in which he belittled Democrats, including Vice-President Kamala Harris, as “childless cat ladies.”
Vance, 40, a father of three, has also suggested a lower tax rate for parents than for people without children.
His comments drew criticism from both parties.
Tomi Lahren, the conservative commentator, blasted the senator on social media in response to the cat lady remarks.
“I like JD Vance, but I’m not sure the calculation as VP pick checks out,” Lahren said in a post on X on July 25.
Asked last Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union about how he would appeal to swing-state voters put off by those remarks, Vance accused the Harris campaign of lying about what he said.
“I criticised Kamala Harris for being part of a set of ideas that exist in American leadership that is anti-family,” he said. “I never criticise people for not having kids.”
Trump defended Vance at a rally in Bozeman, Montana, last Friday.
Pressure on Trump and Vance has heightened since President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid in July.
The Vice-President’s emergence at the top of the Democratic ticket and her pick of Minnesota governor Tim Walz as running mate have considerably shaken up the campaign, largely erasing Trump’s lead in many polls.
A New York Times and Siena College poll conducted Aug 5 to 9 showed Harris with 50% support among likely voters in battleground states Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, compared with Trump’s 46% in each state. — Bloomberg
