Conn Carroll
“Discouraging marriage is not in our country’s best interest and sends the wrong message to our families,” a letter from Republican senators sent to Senate Democrats today reads.
“We were disappointed to learn that in some instances the House of Representatives’ reconciliation bill creates harmful penalties for marriage,” the letter, signed by 35 Republican senators and led by Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, continues.https://www.dianomi.com/smartads.epl?id=3533
Specifically, the letter notes that the current draft of the House reconciliation bill “takes an existing marriage penalty in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and makes it significantly worse.”
The letter then outlines how Joe Biden’s agenda could double the existing marriage penalty faced by a family of four making $42,000 a year. “We believe that marriage is a vital social good. It is misguided and unfair for the government to build bigger barriers for couples to marry.”
Although the Biden agenda does not expand other safety net programs, the letter also notes that “Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Section 8 housing” all punish working people who choose to get married.
The best thing Biden could do to help working families is remove all the marriage penalties that exist throughout the federal government’s means-tested programs. Not only has Biden chosen not to do this, but his agenda does the opposite, making existing marriage penalties worse.
In 1960, 75% of all households included a married couple, and 44% of all households included a married couple with children. The married household was the foundation of the nation. Today, just 49% of all households include a married couple, and just 19% of them include a married couple with children. Marriage is falling apart. The Biden agenda will only make the marriage crisis worse.