LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Next, a look at how the presidential candidates have been talking about children and families, from tax credits to IVF to the cost of child care. Our co-host Michel Martin spoke with Bruce Lesley with the bipartisan group First Focus Campaign for Children. She started by asking Lesley why he thinks campaigns have become so focused on family issues now.
BRUCE LESLEY: I think there are a couple of things. I think that this is a personal issue, for example, in the Harris campaign. She has always championed kids. When she was in the Senate, she would introduce bills, cosponsor bills, talk about it. With respect to Trump, I think Ivanka, his daughter, has really influenced him in different ways. But I also think the Republicans are talking about these things because of their positions on abortion, and they're realizing if more and more people are having babies, they can't quite not deal with the aftermath of that. You know, how do you support women and babies? And there's not a consensus by any stretch, but they are beginning to talk about it more.
MICHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: Interesting. Do you see a difference between these nominees on the kind of family they want to support or encourage more of?
LESLEY: When you think about what the Trump and Vance campaigns are talking about, both of them are talking about much more traditional views of families. A major difference you see from the Harris and Walz campaign is it's definitely a recognition that families come in many sizes, shapes, forms. They embrace LGBTQ families and mixed families in terms of immigration. So those kinds of recognitions and how policy should really address those, I think, make some of their policy differences very profound. When you think about things like the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit and whether it should support single parents, for example, that has very strong support in Harris and Walz campaigns. On the other hand, the child tax credit that Trump supports - like, 70% of the families who only receive a partial or no credit are families who are single parent.
MARTIN: Have you noticed anything missing in either Harris' or Trump's family policy platforms?
LESLEY: By and large, our housing policy in this country is set so that it's really more focused on - for example, when you think about homelessness, really focused more on people who do not have children. You know, you're seeing a rise in this country of parents with children who are, you know, living out of their car and stuff, which really puts families in a very precarious position where they are threatened by the child welfare system of losing their kids. That I would say one thing I haven't seen really from either campaign - addressing sort of child and family homelessness in a very big way.
MARTIN: Do you have a sense of whether the candidates' messages around families and children specifically are hitting home?
LESLEY: I think they are. You know, if you look at any social media, there's a large discussion around the child tax credit and kind of, like, which one's better. And so I know that for younger families, this is really a huge deal. I think people are really struggling with trying to raise their kids, you know, housing and child care expenses. And so, you know, you see, for example, the vice president's talking about capping child care expenses at 7% and investing in the child care system. And Trump's even talking about some sorts of tax deductions. So I do think it's really resonating in a way that makes us very excited because typically, in campaigns, kids and families are really just an afterthought or even invisible.
MARTIN: Bruce Lesley is the president of First Focus on Children. That's a bipartisan group that hopes to make children a higher priority in policy and budget decisions. Bruce Lesley, thanks so much for talking with us.
LESLEY: Thank you.
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