EXCLUSIVE: Pence group knocks Vance plan to pay stay-at-home parents up to $9K per child

By Fox News · Fox News

A proposal backed by Vice President JD Vance to subsidize stay-at-home parents with up to $9,000 per child annually would invite government intrusion and undermine the initiative's original purpose of encouraging work and independence, according to a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence. In a one-page document, Advancing American Freedom (AAF) urged conservatives to oppose the plan, which it said would "expose the sanctity of the family to government intrusion, punish work, and create new avenues for fraud." Vance is pushing for the expansion of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which was created during the Clinton administration to help low-income and working-class families pay for childcare. The program provides about $9,000 per child annually, with funds typically paid directly to childcare providers. CONSERVATIVES CAN FIGHT THE RISE OF SOCIALISM BY DEFENDING THE AMERICAN FAMILY Under Vance's draft plan, families with a stay-at-home parent earning below state income limits could receive up to $9,000 per child annually. To qualify, a married couple must feature one spouse who stays at home while the other works at least 35 hours a week. Unmarried couples and non-working single parents would not be eligible. "Parenting is the most difficult job in the world. Vice President Vance is right to focus on the family," AAF President Tim Chapman told Fox News Digital. "Unfortunately, as sympathetic groups around the movement have noted, this particular proposal would do more harm than good, opening up the family to government audits , benefit cliffs, dependency and new disincentives to work." AAF looks forward to the continued debate about family policy and the future of the conservative movement, Chapman added. EXCLUSIVE: VIDEO SHOWS MICHIGAN LAWMAKER TOURING DAYCARE IN $1.1M TAXPAYER FUNDING PROBE Roughly 870,000 families — 80% of whom are single parents, predominantly mothers — receive up to $9,000 a year per child, the AAF said. Expanding eligib…