PoliTalk USA
Children
Joe Biden (D)
Economic:
• Triple the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $6,000 per child
Health:
• Supports creating a public option to expand health care coverage
• Make an unprecedented investment in school mental health professionals to double the number of psychologists, guidance counselors, nurses, and social workers
• Provide funds to ensure that there is an early childhood development expert in every community health center
Education:
• Ensure that every single person needing child care gets an $8,000 tax credit
• Provide universal, high-quality pre-K for all three- and four-year-olds
• Supports two years of free community college
• Invest in school vocational trainings and partnerships between high schools, community colleges, and employers to connect students to jobs
• Triple investment in Title I schools to eliminate the funding and achievement gap
• Include in federal infrastructure legislation funding specifically for improving public school buildings
• Update curriculum and skills to accommodate rapid technological change
• Increase federal funding for special education provide funds to ensure that there is an early childhood development expert in every community health center
Child Welfare:
• Double funding for home visiting programs so more families can receive coaching on child health, prenatal practices, and child maltreatment
• Increase spending on juvenile justice from $60 million to $1 billion
• Create a new grant to encourage states to place non-violent youth in community-based alternatives to prison
• Require states to keep juvenile records private so that minors have a real chance to reach their full potential as adults
• Recognize Dreamers as US citizens and end child separation
Other:
• See Biden's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Michael Bloomberg (D)
Economic:
• Increase the annual Child Tax Credit and make it fully refundable
• Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit offered to lower-income families, particularly those with children
Health:
• Higher tax credits would increase access to child care
• Doesn't support Medicare for All and would create a Medicare-like public option
• Ensure all employees have 12 weeks of paid family leave
Education:
• Guarantee access to full-day preschool for all three- and four-year-olds
• Triple the number of children served by Early Head Start
• Make it a top national priority to increase student achievement, college preparedness, and career readiness
• Invest in career and technical education to create new opportunities and access to well-paying jobs for all Americans
Child Welfare:
• Improve the health of at-risk infants and children by increasing the number of low-income families who receive free, voluntary nurse home visits through the Early Childhood Home Visiting Program
• Cut the number of incarcerated children in half
• Fund alternative placement programs and risk-assessment tools to limit the number of detained youths waiting for trial
• Require secure storage of firearms to reduce the risk of child gun injuries by up to 85 percent
• Recognize Dreamers as US citizens, end family separations at the border, and establish rigorous safeguards for children
• Promote alternatives to detention for immigrant children and families who pose no threat to public safety
• Launch a federal “Respect for All” initiative to combat bullying, harassment and discrimination
• Promote school-based mental health programs, including suicide prevention efforts, and protect LGBTQ+ youth from conversion therapy
Other:
• See Bloomberg's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Pete Buttigieg (D)
Economic:
• Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit offered to lower-income families, particularly those with children
Health:
• Supports Medicare For All as an end goal
• Allow people to opt into a government-backed health insurance option and let keep their private insurance plans if they like them
• Create a universal, gender-neutral, national paid family and medical leave program allowing for up to 12 weeks of paid leave
• Supports creating a tax credit to help families pay for child care
Education:
• Invest $700 billion in affordable, universal, high-quality, and full-day early learning, as well as outside-of-school learning opportunities in K-12 education
• Make this early learning and care from age 0-5 free for lower-income families and affordable for all
• Dramatically increase Title I funding to support supplemental services for lower-income students
• Supports expanding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which clears student loans in exchange for public service work
• Invest $500 billion so that 80% of families of public college students (those that earn up to $100,000) will not pay any public college tuition
• Increase national service opportunities from 75,000 to 1 million high school graduates by 2026 by expanding existing and creating new service corps such as the Climate Corps
• Invest $50 billion in workforce training and lifelong learning to create pathways for young and middle-age workers into good jobs
• Invest up to $5 billion over the next decade to ensure an apprenticeship program in a growing industry is available within 30 miles of every American
Child Welfare:
• Invest $430 billion to unlock access to 7 million affordable housing units to end homeless for families with childrener 7 million
• Invest an additional $170 billion to ensure that all eligible families with children have access to housing choice vouchers, mobility counseling, and wrap-around services
• Invest $100 million to close down youth prisons and expand programming that meets the needs of children
• Push to raise the age at which one can be tried as an adult
• Remove children from adult jails and prisons
• Enforce the Supreme Court’s ban on juvenile life sentences without parole
• Recognize Dreamers as US citizens and end child separation
Other:
• See Buttigieg's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Tulsi Gabbard (D)
Economic:
• Gabbard has not released any economic policies with respect to children
Health:
• Supports Medicare for All
Education:
• Increase funding for Head Start, a program that provides early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families
• Eliminate tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities for families that make up to $125,000 a year
• Make community college tuition-free
Child Welfare:
• Recognize Dreamers as US citizens and end child separation
Other:
• See Gabbard's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Amy Klobuchar (D)
Economic:
• Cut childhood poverty in half in ten years and end it within a generation
• Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (offered to lower-income families, particularly those with children), the Child Care Tax Credit, and overhaul our country’s housing policy
Health:
• Doesn't support Medicare for All and would instead offer a public option that people can buy into
• Create a universal, gender-neutral, national paid family and medical leave program allowing for up to 12 weeks of paid leave
Education:
• Create a universal child care program and make it free for families at 75% of their state's median income
• Supports universal pre-K that is free for low-income families
• Create tuition-free community college and technical certifications and expand access to technical and vocational training
• Double the number of apprenticeships to over a million by the end of her first term
• Provide federal funds for states that pledge to update their high school curricula to improve workforce readiness and repair schools across their state
• Increase funding for special education and high-needs schools
Child Welfare:
• Recognize Dreamers as US citizens and end child separation
• Increase investment in SNAP (food stamps)
Other:
• See Klobuchar's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Bernie Sanders (D)
Economic:
• Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit offered to lower-income families, particularly those with children
• Make the Child Tax Credit fully refundable, meaning families can receive the full credit for each child
Health:
• Pass Medicare For All plan to fully cover every service and procedure, including dental, vision, long-term care, and abortion, at no charge to patients
• Create a universal, gender-neutral, national paid family and medical leave program allowing for up to 12 weeks of paid leave
Education:
• Establish a universal child care program
• Establish a universal pre-K program
• Give schools the funding needed to support arts, foreign language and music education
• Invest billions in after-school and summer programs and rebuilding decaying school infrastructure
• Make public two- and four-year institutions tuition-free for everyone, including undocumented immigrants
• Provide $5 billion annually for career and technical education
• Cancel all student loan debt held by Americans, funded by a tax on Wall Street transactions
• Triple spending on Title 1 schools to eliminate the funding and achievement gap
• Guarantee children with disabilities a high-quality education by enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act
Child Welfare:
• Invest $1.48 trillion over 10 years to build, rehabilitate, and preserve the 7.4 million housing units need to eliminate family and child homelessness
• Make school meals free to lower child hunger
• Recognize Dreamers as US citizens and end child separation
Other:
• See Sanders's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Tom Steyer (D)
Economic:
• Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit offered to lower-income families, particularly those with children
Health:
• Believes in Medicare For All as an end goal
• Supports creating a public option to expand health care coverage in the meantime
• Expand the reach of mobile clinics to bring specialized care to low income kids in isolated rural areas
Education:
• Believes all Americans should have access to a free, quality public education
• Guarantee two years of free college
• Allow students to refinance their student loans at lower interest rates
• Invest heavily in worker training and apprenticeship programs to produce a highly trained workforce and meet the technological needs of our changing economy
• Pass a Student Borrowers Bill of Rights
• Allocate increased resources to public schools and social service programs
Child Welfare:
• Ensure access to SNAP (food stamps) benefits and free or reduced school lunch programs for rural American children
• Recognize Dreamers as US citizens and end child separation
Other:
• Create five new constitutional rights for children — the right to healthcare, clean air and water, a livable wage, an equal vote, and a quality education
• See Steyer's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Donald Trump (R)
Economic:
• Child poverty has stayed relatively stagnant throughout his presidency
• Experts predict child poverty would be far worse if many of the Trump Administration’s proposals had not been defeated in Congress
Health:
• Believes the government should not be involved in health insurance
• Children’s health insurance coverage has declined, breaking decade-long trend on improvement
Education:
• Signed a deal in 2018 to increase child care subsidies for low-income families and extend the federal homevisiting program
• Devoted in his 2020 budget an additional $1 billion to expand child care access
• Has stated that his administration wants to work with members in both parties to make child care accessible and affordable
• Has cut funding to Department of Education by 13%, eliminating 29 programs and $8.5 billion from the budget
• Has proposed eliminating the Preschool Development Grant Program
• Has called for the elimination of funding for after school and enrichment programs
• Supports eliminating the Common Core
• Has called for cuts to two major college-readiness programs
• Believes federal government should not be making profit off student debt
• Opposes loan forgiveness or free college plans
• Has neither increased nor decreased federal support for Title I and special education
Child Welfare:
• Signed a deal in 2018 to extend the federal homevisiting program
• Has three proposals to reduce SNAP funding, which would cause 500,000 children to lose access to school meals
• His administration was created and enforced the zero tolerance policy, which separated children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border
Other:
• See Trump's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Joe Walsh (R)
Economic:
• Walsh has not released any economic policies with respect to children
Health:
• Repeal the Affordable Care Act and opposes any other form of government-sponsored healthcare
Education:
• Supports eliminating the Common Core
• Previously ran a fund that gave low-income students scholarships to help them attend private high schools
Child Welfare:
• Against the zero tolerance policy of family separation at the border
Other:
• See Walsh's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Elizabeth Warren (D)
Economic:
• Bring children out of poverty by increasing access to child care and early education
Health:
• Pass Medicare For All plan to fully cover every service and procedure, including dental, vision, long-term care, and abortion, at no charge to patients
• Prioritize presence of counselors, mental health providers, and social workers over police officers in schools
Education:
• Provide every family with affordable and high-quality child care for children aged 0-5 and make it free for those below 200% of the poverty line
• Expected contributions for child care by wealthier families would be capped at 7%
• Provide every family with affordable and high-quality preschool and make it free for those below 200% of the poverty line
• Make public two- and four-year institutions tuition-free
• Eliminate up to $50,000 of student-loan debt for borrowers earning less than $100,000 — with proportionally less debt relief for those earning up to $250,000
• Renew the fight against segregation and discrimination in our schools
• Increase annual investment in apprenticeship programs tenfold to $2 billion a year, for the next ten years
• Quadruple Title I funding - an additional $450 billion over the next 10 years - to close the funding and achievement gap
• Invest at least an additional $50 billion in school infrastructure across the country
Child Welfare:
• Invest $500 billion over the next decade to build/preserve 3.2 million affordable housing units to help reduce child and family homelessness
• Provide legal counsel for children being deported
• Recognize Dreamers as US citizens and end child separation
• Increase funding for SNAP (food stamps)
• Cancel student breakfast and lunch debt and provide free and nutritious school meals
Other:
• See Warren's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy
Bill Weld (R)
Economic:
• Establish individual retirement accounts for newborns and millennials, who may never receive Social Security benefits
Health:
• Supports keeping and reforming the Affordable Care Act so people have more choices
• Address differences in access to healthcare and parental leave
Education:
• Wants to repeal federal provision that prevents renegotiation of student debt
• Believes we should be paying greater attention to online education
• Address differences in access to quality education and child care
Child Welfare:
• Weld has not released any welfare policies with respect to children
Other:
• See Weld's Environment and Gun Control stances for more related to children's policy