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President Donald Trump is mulling ways to combat America’s ongoing birth and fertility crisis. One possibility: cold, hard cash.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Trump told The Post last week when asked about the potential $5,000 “baby bonus” to get more Americans to have kids.
As a mother of six, I can’t help but wonder — will that be retroactive?
The idea calls to mind the meme of a drowning man, hand barely above water, reaching out for help — only to get a high-five before slipping under.
That’s exactly what this proposal feels like: a symbolic gesture in the face of a sinking reality.
A one-time payout of $5,000 — an amount that wouldn’t even cover the cost of one of my births — isn’t a life raft, but a pat on the head as families struggle to stay afloat amid rising costs, child-care shortages and a culture that undervalues parenthood.
American families don’t need a flashy push present. We need durable policy change.
We need tax reform rooted in research, reflecting the real needs of modern mothers and fathers, and support that empowers families to dream bigger, not just survive.
Several Republicans on Capitol Hill are thinking deeply about how to ease that burden.
Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), a father of four, this year introduced the Family First Act to update the IRS’s Child Tax Credit.
His proposal would boost the CTC from $2,000 to $4,200 for each young child, $3,000 for kids aged 6 to 17, and add a new $2,800 credit for pregnant moms.
That’s a policy with potential, recognizing that raising children isn’t a one-time cost, but a long-term commitment.
Nations around the globe are sounding alarms about the birth dearth. Countries like Hungary, South Korea and Iran have launched programs to reverse their demographic decline — with little success.
Meanwhile, according to recently released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, America’s fertility rate has slipped to 1.62 births per woman, far below the 2.1 needed to sustain our population.
And here’s the deeper issue: the problem isn’t just a drop in babies, it’s a drop in marriages.
Since 1970, the US marriage rate has fallen by 60%. While married couples (especially religious ones) still do have children — and statistically have more sex than singletons do — there are simply far fewer of them today.
So maybe instead of a $5,000 baby bonus, Trump should consider a one-time tax break for newlyweds.
Marriage is still the most reliable path to a thriving family, and federal policies should reflect that.
Of course, money alone can’t solve this crisis. We also need a culture shift, a reawakening to the beauty and adventure of family life.
Across our culture, from social media to movies to TV to print, marriage is portrayed as bondage (and not the fun kind, either), and kids as exhausting, soul-sucking thieves of joy.
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And while Elon Musk is a loud voice in favor of bringing more progeny into the world, his personal “harem model” isn’t exactly the blueprint for a flourishing society.
The better answer? Pro-family policy and pro-family storytelling.
Moore’s Family First Act, for example, won’t solve the whole problem, but it sends the right message: families matter.
As Moore told me, “Moving toward a pro-family culture will require considering both immediate incentives and lasting policy change.”
Policy isn’t just economics, it’s narrative. It’s messaging.
And right now, American families need more than a one-time payment. They need a plan, and they need to feel seen.
Which brings me to a moment last week, halfway around the world, that somehow felt very close to home: Vice President JD Vance‘s X post of a perfectly imperfect photo of himself, his wife Usha and their squirming, squinting children on their official trip to India.
The caption? “With three little kids staring into the sun, this was actually the best photo we got at the Taj Mahal today” — followed by a laughing emoji.
That’s the kind of positive, pro-family image Americans need to see more of: messy, real and beautiful.
If I were to choose an American-family czar to lead that cultural transformation, I’d hand the job to the Vances. They’re normal, they’re likable and they’re living what they’re preaching.
Our families don’t need high-fives as we go under. We need a hand to pull us out — and policies to help us stand strong.
Bethany Mandel writes and podcasts at The Mom Wars and is a homeschooling mother of six in greater Washington, DC.