Romney Child-Subsidy Proposal: Conservatives Beware

When President Biden’s Build Back Better plan didn’t pass last year, it meant that his policy of sending monthly payments to families of up to $300 per child could not be extended. The expiration of the program has brought some renewed attention to a similar proposal by Senator Mitt Romney. While the Romney plan has won plaudits among some analysts on the right (including at National Review) who believe that Republicans should adopt policies that do more to promote family formation, any effort to advance it should be met with suspicion by those who believe in a limited role for the federal government.

It wasn’t too long ago that Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, signed a law that he promoted as a Republican alternative to a “Clinton-style government takeover” of health care. Then, as now, Romney claimed that the bill would be fully paid for using existing funds. In reality, the law was a significant expansion of government that required subsequent tax increases and established the model for what would become Obamacare at the federal level.

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Philip Klein

Philip Klein is the editor of National Review Online.

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When President Biden’s Build Back Better plan didn’t pass last year, it meant that his policy of sending monthly payments to families of up to $300 per child could not be extended. The expiration of the program has brought some renewed attention to a similar proposal by Senator Mitt Romney. While the Romney plan has won plaudits among some analysts on the right (including at National Review) who believe that Republicans should adopt policies that do more to promote family formation, any effort to advance it should be met with suspicion by those who believe in a limited role for the federal government.

It wasn’t too long ago that Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, signed a law that he promoted as a Republican alternative to a “Clinton-style government takeover” of health care. Then, as now, Romney claimed that the bill would be fully paid for using existing funds. In reality, the law was a significant expansion of government that required subsequent tax increases and established the model for what would become Obamacare at the federal level.