The Trump administration’s agenda forces a narrow definition of family, while cutting basic needs spending like food, healthcare and housing. That is antithetical to what families need.
Some conservative policymakers and analysts have tried to use proposals like “Trump accounts” and medals for motherhood to frame the administration’s agenda as “pro-family.” But in reality, that framing is centered on an overly narrow definition of family: a married husband and wife, with the wife ideally staying home to care for children. (Some conservatives have also long touted the idea that public assistance is destroying the “traditional” American family.) Many of these policies make it harder for families of all types to care for their children.
The Trump administration has reinforced elements of this pronatalist vision, calling on women to have more children while simultaneously gutting programs that support families.
For example, the Trump and Republican Congress’ megabill, enacted last summer, will make it harder for families to afford the basics. It strips millions of people of healthcare coverage and food assistance, and puts basic food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at risk of being wholly eliminated in some states. These deep cuts partially pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and the administration’s deportation dragnet.
The administration has also proposed deep cuts in rental assistance and to the amount low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding parents, as well as toddlers and preschoolers, receive for fruits and vegetables through a food assistance program known as WIC.
Contrary to the picture the administration is trying to paint, family structures have evolved. Norms around childrearing and trends in women’s education and employment have changed alongside advances in women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. Upholding an out-of-touch ideal for families not only fails to reflect modern needs but also blames women—particularly Black women with low incomes—for exercising autonomy in their lives. It sends a cruel message: You are undeserving unless you fit a narrow mold.
Genuine support for families looks like meeting families where they are and helping to ensure that they have the resources they need to succeed. This includes policies that support everyone’s reproductive decisions, family planning goals and ability to raise children in safe and healthy environments. Access to healthcare and food assistance improves children’s chances of graduating from high school and college and leads to better health as adults. When parents facing financial hardship have access to cash support or rental assistance, they are better able to afford basic essentials for their children like housing, diapers and school supplies.
We can help families thrive by strengthening vital supports and services, rather than cutting them. Both federal and state policymakers can play a critical role in helping families thrive.
Policymakers should:
Fight hunger.
SNAP lifted 3.6 million people above the poverty line in 2024. Yet millions of families can’t afford enough to eat, which will be made worse by the $187 billion SNAP cut in the harmful Republican megabill. To fight food insecurity among children and families, policymakers should reverse these cuts and examine ways to make SNAP more effective.
Help families afford the basics.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is the nation’s primary cash program for families who have children and very low incomes. State policymakers should use their considerable flexibility under TANF to give families adequate income assistance to afford needs like housing, food and diapers, and address crisis situations such as facing eviction and fleeing domestic violence. In addition, states can reform their child support programs to get more child support payments to families rather than keeping the payments to reimburse themselves for cash benefits. Policymakers at both the federal and state levels can help families make ends meet by expanding child tax credits and making sure they reach all low-income children, rather than excluding families or giving them less help because their families’ incomes are low.
Protect healthcare access.
Supporting families would mean expanding access to healthcare and lowering costs.
Medicaid is a key source of health coverage for low-income people, covering roughly two in five children, and one in six non-elderly adults. However, Medicaid provisions in the megabill, including massive funding cuts and a harsh red tape-laden work requirement that applies to some parents with teenagers in states that have expanded Medicaid, will cause an estimated 7.5 million people to lose Medicaid coverage and become uninsured by 2034.
In addition, many families who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace have seen their premiums skyrocket this year because tax credit enhancements expired, leading some to drop coverage and others to face high costs that are straining their budgets for everything else.
Policymakers should also protect and broaden access to reproductive healthcare including abortion, so that everyone has access to the services they need and can exercise autonomy over whether and how to build their families.
Helping parents juggle family and work.
Making free and low-cost childcare widely available, raising wages and enacting family leave policies would help parents make the decisions that are right for themselves and their families, including pursuing careers and choosing to care for children and loved ones at home.
Instead of gutting programs that support family well-being and promoting ideology at odds with what most families want and need, policymakers should help all families meet their basic needs and thrive.
