Trump Administration Weighs Paying Married Couples to Raise Children at Home

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering a policy that would subsidize married couples for childcare, according to a report by The New York Times. Under the draft proposal, couples within certain income brackets would qualify for payments if one spouse works at least 35 hours a week while the other stays home with the child. Unmarried couples and non-working single parents would not be eligible.
Funding would be drawn from the existing $12 billion Child Care and Development Fund, a Department of Health and Human Services program that has supported low- and middle-income families since the 1990s. The fund currently provides about 1.3 million children with roughly $9,000 annually, with most recipients being households led by single working parents, typically mothers.
The proposal aligns with a broader administration push — associated with Vice President JD Vance — to promote traditional family structures and raise birth rates. Vance has previously advocated for mothers staying home with children, arguing in a 2021 article that young children are happier at home with parents.
Policy experts have pushed back. Joshua McCabe, director of social policy at the Niskanen Center, supported more aid for stay-at-home parents but warned that expanding eligibility without additional funding would increase competition for the same limited resources, potentially leaving single working parents worse off. Administration lawyers are reportedly also examining whether a marriage requirement for recipients would hold up legally. The change would not require congressional approval, but would go through a public comment period before final implementation, possibly by early 2027.