CBS News
JD Vance wants a $5,000 Child Tax Credit, or 150% more than the current CTC. Here’s what to know.
Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, says he wants to boost the Child Tax Credit to $5,000 per child from its current $2,000 — an effort that could add trillions in federal spending, according to policy experts.
“I’d love to see a child tax credit that’s $5,000 per child,” Vance said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday. “President Trump has been on the record for a long time supporting a bigger child tax credit, and I think you want it to apply to all American families.”
Vance’s idea for boosting the Child Tax Credit by 150% comes less than two weeks after a bill that would have provided a modest expansion in the tax benefit failed in the Senate due to Republican opposition. Supporters of an expanded CTC argue that it would help low- and middle-income families navigate the costs of raising a child, but it’s also likely to come with a big price tag for the federal government, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank focused on fiscal policy issues.
“We could easily be talking about $2-$3 trillion in additional borrowing over the next decade,” Marc Goldwein, senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told CBS MoneyWatch. “That’s a tremendous amount of money.”
But Vance didn’t provide many details about how he would expand the CTC, which makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact cost, Goldwein added. For instance, Vance didn’t disclose if he envisions a fully refundable $5,000 CTC, meaning that people who claim it could receive the entire amount as a tax refund. That would make it more expensive than if it were partially refundable, as the CTC currently is.
Vance hinted that he would like to see an expanded CTC without income thresholds, as the current tax credit phases out for single filers earning over $200,000 and married couples with more than $400,000 in income.
“You don’t want a different policy for higher income families,” he noted. “You just want to have a pro-family Child Tax Credit.”
No-vote on bill to expand the CTC
Vance, though, didn’t vote on the failed Senate bill that would have expanded the CTC to provide more benefits to low-income families. Asked on “Face the Nation” about this, Vance called it a “show vote,” and added that it would have failed even if he had been there.
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon who co-sponsored the failed bill, pointed to Vance’s no-vote as undermining his statements in support of an expanded CTC.
“If JD Vance sincerely gave a whit about working families in America, he would have shown up in the Senate a week and a half ago and voted for my proposal to expand the child tax credit and help 16 million low income kids get ahead,” Wyden said in a Sunday statement. “He didn’t even care enough to use his platform to call on his Senate Republican colleagues to support it.”
How much is the CTC?
The CTC currently stands at $2,000, but during the pandemic it had a temporary expansion that boosted the benefit to as much as $3,600 per child. That helped lift more than 2 million children out of poverty, according to U.S. Census data.
But the CTC is facing another major change: In 2026, the tax credit will revert back to $1,000 per child. That’s because the benefit was doubled to $2,000 per child by former President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, which went into effect in 2018. But many of the TCJA’s provisions, including the more generous CTC, expire at the end of 2025.
Vance, meanwhile, has advocated for policies that would encourage Americans to have more children, but even boosting the CTC by 150% isn’t likely to move the needle much, Goldwein noted.
The cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 is about $240,000, according to a 2023 study. Some countries that sought to boost their birth rates by providing payments have had mixed results, such as Australia, which started a “baby bonus” about two decades ago. Its birth rate bumped up in the following few years, but has since sunk to a lower rate than when the benefit was first introduced, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“$5,000 a year, it’s going to lighten the load, but won’t cover all those costs,” Goldwein noted. “Financial benefits don’t move the needle much in fertility.”
A new Barbie has joined Mattel’s lineup of inclusive dolls. The first “Diwali doll” was announced by the toymaker on Friday, a few weeks shy of the Hindu holiday of Diwali, also known as the festival of lights.
The festival, which lasts for five days, is marked on Western calendars to begin on Nov. 1, but some celebrations start on Oct. 31.
The doll, created in collaboration with fashion designer Anita Dongre, features traditional elements including the lehenga skirt, floral print and golden shoes, according to Mattel’s website. The doll is available at major retailers for $40.
“The look is infused with beauty and symbolism to rejoice in victory of light over darkness with contemporary silhouettes,” the description reads for the Diwali doll.
Lalit Agarwal, country manager for Mattel India, said in a news release that through the Diwali doll, the brand is hoping to showcase “India’s vibrant cultural heritage on a global stage while continuing to celebrate the power and beauty of diversity.”
Earlier this year, Mattel announced the first-ever blind Barbie doll and a Black Barbie with Down syndrome.
In addition, to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 and Barbie’s 65th birthday on March 9, the doll brand announced it was adding new dolls to its Role Models collection, based on real-life singers and actresses from around the world. They’re not for sale – a one-of-a-kind doll was made for each of the honored women.
The dolls are meant to introduce “girls to remarkable women’s stories to show them you can be anything,” according to Mattel.
Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves made his professional auto racing debut on Saturday at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“The Matrix” star, who qualified 31st out of 35 cars, ran as high as 21st before a single-car crash a little more than halfway through the 45-minute race briefly stopped him in his tracks.
Darron Cummings / AP
The 60-year-old spun into the grass without a collision on the exit of Turn 9 when he had about 21 minutes of racing left. He re-entered the course and continued driving, signaling he was uninjured.
Reeves finished 25th.
The actor is competing at Indianapolis in the Toyota GR Cup, a Toyota spec-racing series and a support series for this weekend’s Indy 8 Hour sports car event. He has a second race on Sunday.
Darron Cummings / AP
He is driving the No. 92 BRZRKR car, which is promoting his graphic novel “The Book of Elsewhere.” He is teammates with Cody Jones from “Dude Perfect.”
Reeves has previous racing experience as a former participant in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in the celebrity race. Reeves won the event in 2009.
A passenger successfully landed a small plane on Friday after the pilot had a medical emergency, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 was traveling from Henderson Executive Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada to Monterey Regional Airport in California, with a pilot and one other person on board, the FAA said.
The pilot suffered an unspecified medical emergency while flying, the FAA said, forcing the passenger to take the controls and make an emergency landing at Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California.
The Kern Fire Department told CBS News affiliate KBAX that firefighters were called to a report of a medical emergency on the plane. The pilot was reported to be “incapacitated,” the fire department said. Firefighters saw the plane approach and land safely, then “chased” the plane down the runway in emergency vehicles to meet it.
The FAA did not release the passenger or pilot’s identities nor give an update on the pilot’s condition. The pilot was taken to an area hospital by ambulance. The passenger did not report any injuries.
The FAA and the National Transportation Security Board will investigate the incident, the FAA said.
