(Bloomberg News/TNS) − Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has proposed more than doubling the federal child tax credit to $5,000 in an effort to give his campaign a more family-friendly stance.
“I don’t think you want these massive cuts to low-income families as is currently the case,” the Ohio senator and Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Vance appeared on three network political talk shows on Sunday after comments resurfaced in which he denigrated Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, as “childless cat ladies.”
Vance, 40, a father of three, also believes parents should pay a lower tax rate than people without children.
When Vance was asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday how he planned to appeal to voters in swing states who would be turned off by these comments, he accused the Harris campaign team of lying about his statements.
“I have criticized Kamala Harris for being part of a set of ideas that are prevalent in American leadership that are anti-family,” he said. “I never criticize people for not having children.”
Trump defended Vance at a rally in Bozeman, Montana, on Friday.
“He’s really stepped up,” Trump said. “I said he’s got his sea legs, you know, because on day one they bombarded him with a lot of nonsense.”
Pressure has mounted on Trump and Vance since President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign in July. Harris’ rise to the top of the Democratic ticket and her choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate have thrown the campaign into disarray, largely closing in on Trump’s lead in many polls.
Vance skipped a Senate vote on a bipartisan tax plan in early August, sparking attacks from Democrats who accused him of sacrificing his job for the election campaign.
The $78 billion package would have allowed a larger portion of the $2,000 tax credit to be paid to those whose incomes are too low to qualify for the full credit. Senators failed to reach the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.
Vance dismissed the recent vote on the tax package as a messaging ploy.
“It was a sham vote,” Vance said. “And if I had been there, it would have been rejected.”
