Sen. Hawley pushes Vance's child tax credit boost, again orienting GOP in more pro-natalist direction

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) appears eager for the GOP to adopt more pro-natalist policies, making family generation less daunting and child-rearing more affordable amid an apparent population collapse.

Hawley's proposed Parent Tax Credit Act, which would have made parents of children under the age of 13 eligible for an individual tax credit of $6,000 or a joint credit of $12,000, died in the 117th Congress. In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's landslide victory and the approaching Republican trifecta in Washington, D.C., Hawley appears keen to try once again to give those families raising the next generation of Americans a break.

"President Trump won with the support of working people with kids," Hawley wrote on X Monday. "Next year's tax bill should provide them a big tax cut."

'Make it easier to choose life in the first place.'

Axios reported that the Missouri senator is calling for the child tax credit to be raised from a maximum of $2,000 to $5,000 per kid. Following the birth of a child, parents would be able to claim a credit for the tax year of the pregnancy.

Under the proposal, which would have the credit applied to payroll taxes, families could opt to receive the tax credits in installments throughout the year rather than as a lump sum. While conditional on the parents' having jobs and paying taxes, families would not need to clear the $2,500 income minimum to begin accessing the credit.

Hawley told Axios that the proposed boost conforms with what Vice President-elect JD Vance recommended earlier this year.

Vance told CBS News' Margaret Brennan in August, "What President Trump and I want to do on family policy is make it easier for families to start in the first place. We want to bring down housing costs so that if you have a baby, there's actually a place to raise that baby."

"We want to increase and expand the child tax credit. We want to make it easier for moms and dads to not be shocked by these surprise medical bills when they go to an out-of-network provider," continued Vance. "We're working on all this stuff, and I think that's ultimately how we turn down the temperature a little bit, is to make it easier to choose life in the first place."

When pressed for the particulars of the child tax credit, Vance told Brennan that he would "love to see a child tax credit that's $5,000 per child."

Bloomberg reported that an increase of the tax credit to $5,000 could cost over $2 trillion over the next 10 years.

Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000 and made it available to more middle-income families.

The child tax credit was temporarily expanded during the pandemic to $3,000 or $3,600, depending on the age of the child. Families who failed to file income taxes were similarly enabled to access the credit.

Following the demise of the pandemic boost, in a 357-70 January vote, the House passed legislation aimed at enhancing child tax credit eligibility for poor families.

The legislation was, however, killed by Republicans in the Senate, some of whom regarded the vote on the legislation as a "show vote" and others who suspected the bill would have transformed the CTC into a handout for families not paying much or any tax. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) indicated that the bill "isn't tax relief — it's a subsidy."

Hawley was among the three Republicans who voted in support of the tax package.

House Republicans have recently sounded the alarm that with the 2017 Trump tax cuts set to expire next year, the child tax credit could be slashed in half.

"Raising a family can be challenging enough without Washington pulling the rug out from under parents. But that’s exactly what will happen if the 2017 Trump tax cuts are allowed to expire next year. Forty million families will see their Child Tax Credit — a pro-family policy that was created, and later doubled, by Republicans to provide families relief and support — slashed in half," Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) stated last week. "Congress must act as soon as possible to eliminate this threat of a higher tax burden and give families peace of mind."

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