George W. Bush's position on

Children and Families: As many children have single, working parents or two working parents, its is important to look at children in relationship to the family unit, and what can be done to make it easier for families, both materially and psychologically.

Description of position: President Bush stands on his record on supporting children and families. He enacted an expansion of the child care tax credit, as well as initiating welfare reform, which enables families to become less dependent on others, but self-sufficient. Link Additionally, the president intends to fund the Child Care and Development Block Grant, $4.8 billion, as well as to give more of child support payments directly to working mothers. All of this is intended to strengthen the family unit. Link

Quotation: President Bush describes how single moms and working families are benefiting from the tax relief: "I met Deborah Simonet, she's an application developer for 3M. She's a single mom. That's the hardest job in America, being a single mom. And she is saving for her son's college education. She gets pretty good tax relief, over $1,000 worth of tax relief, money that she gets to decide how to use, money she can allocate according to her needs. […] And this tax relief plan that I worked with Congress to pass recognizes that when you've got an economic issue, you've got a people issue. And the more money people have in their pocket, the more likely this economy is going to grow." June 19, 2003 speech link

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: Urban Institute fellows from the Tax Center Policy reviewed Bush's tax cuts, and found that they have stimulated the family economy: "[I]t increased the child tax credit and made it refundable-that is, available to families with incomes too low to owe income tax. The legislation also simplified the EITC and increased it for some married couples. […] Like the rest of the tax bill, many of these provisions phase in very slowly, and inflation erodes away much of the value of the advertised increases. Nonetheless, when fully phased in, the tax cuts will be worth over $1,700 per year in tax savings for a family of four at or near the poverty line." Link Thus, while critics say that Bush hasn't done enough, he has provisions in place that will work.

Negative: AFL-CIO, a union which analyzes family and work related issues, however criticizes Bush's tax policies as not doing enough for families and instead harming them: "families earning between $10,500 and $26,625 will not receive the credit. Those families include 11.9 million children." Link Thus, while Bush may be helping some families and children, his policies do not affect those who need it the most.

Comparison: While President Bush does not advocate an expanse of the child care tax credit or additional school programs as Senator Kerry does, his position is that the current child care tax credit system, No Child Left Behind Act, and the tax credits all help working families and children, both in terms of more money in their pockets and better educational opportunities. Link Thus, each candidate has a different approach to addressing the same issue.

Link to Kerry's issue brief