American parents need help.
Nearly half of parents suffer more stress, money problems and loneliness than their childless peers and are barely able to function, according to a new report by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
Murthy says that government support in the form of child tax credits, universal preschool education, early childhood education, paid family and sick leave, paid sick time and investments in social infrastructure can help. That’s in line with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ campaign speech, but GOP candidate Donald Trump is also mulling how to put more money in parents’ pockets — a point his running mate JD Vance has championed.
“The stress and loneliness that parents face disproportionately has real consequences,” Murthy told POLITICO. “We need to provide more financial support.”
Chronic and excessive stress, caused in part by the bills they have to pay, worsens parents’ mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, and can harm children’s development.
According to Murthy’s report, four out of ten parents say they are so stressed that they cannot function most days, and two-thirds cite financial difficulties.
The Harris and Trump campaigns agree there is a problem and have debated which will help families more.
Harris has said he wants to restore pandemic-era tax credits of up to $3,600 per child and create a $6,000 credit for newborns. Other proposals in the Democratic platform include free universal preschool for 4-year-olds, paid leave and child care for less than $10 a day for working families.
Vance, who believes people don’t have children because of the cost, has doubled the child tax credit. Trump is considering it, a campaign official told Semafor earlier this month.
Asked on CBS News’ Face the Nation two weeks ago if he agreed with the Biden administration on the child tax credit, Vance said, “We think it should be bigger.”
Adrienne Schweer, a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank who previously worked for GOP Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, told POLITICO that no matter how the election goes, proposals to strengthen families are likely to follow. “Both Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance — all four of those parties — have some history of working on paid leave and family policy in ways that we haven’t really seen in the candidate series,” he said.
The Republican-led House passed legislation earlier this year to expand the child tax credit — before GOP senators shot it down this month, revealing GOP divisions over whether the expanded credit would hinder jobs.
Trump and Vance could revive the measure because, as representatives of new right-wing currents, they provide “more room to think creatively about how to solve the problems of the American family,” said Duncan Braid, coalition director of the conservative American Compass. think tank, which notes longtime GOP support for the credit.
While Murthy said he does not support specific laws or legislative proposals, he is a fan of the honor.
“We need to recognize that parents need a lot more support than they’re getting right now, and the child tax credit is one way to do that,” she said.
Like money
Money is not the only thing parents need, Murthy said.
Murthy’s recent public health guidelines — on youth mental health, social media, loneliness and gun violence — have promoted strengthening social infrastructure and strengthening personal bonds as a way to revitalize Americans’ mental health.
Isolation is a common problem for parents and caregivers, and Murthy, 47, says she struggles after having children. His report found that 65 percent of parents and 77 percent of single parents report feeling lonely, compared to 55 percent of non-parents.
While online parenting groups and advice forums are important lifelines for parents, they are no substitute for real-world interaction, Murthy said.
“Ideally, we need a core of human relationships that can be supplemented with online connections. This relationship has turned around in many people’s lives, where most of our relationships are online and we have a small amount of in-person interactions. We need to change this relationship, he said.
And while neither presidential campaign has released plans to combat loneliness, the issue is attracting bipartisan attention.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has taken up Murthy’s call to find policy solutions to Americans’ social malaise, proposing legislation to create a new office of social engagement in the White House, among other things.
Next year, he will likely have a new colleague on the GOP side of the aisle who is also concerned about our poor social life. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a Trump ally and front-runner to replace outgoing Republican Sen. Mike Braun, introduced bipartisan legislation earlier this month to screen more Americans for loneliness and refer them to services.
Before having children, Murthy had friends all over the country and thought she would keep in touch with them when she became a parent. He dramatically underestimated how important personal connections were, he said.
“I learned the hard way that the kind of community I needed as a parent was different from the community I had before I became a parent. If I had known, I might have tried to invest more in the personal community,” he said.
Eleanor Mueller contributed to this report.