McCormick Unveils Comprehensive Plan to Support Pennsylvania Families

June 26, 2024 Press Releases

This is Part Four of McCormick’s Keystone Agenda to Reclaim America

SPRINGFIELD, PA. — Dave McCormick, a combat veteran and Pennsylvania job creator who served in the highest levels of government, today unveiled Part Four of his Keystone Agenda to Reclaim America at an event in Delaware County.

McCormick unveiled a comprehensive plan to address problems facing Pennsylvania families at every stage of life, from pregnancy to childhood, adulthood, and retirement.

McCormick’s policy proposals to support families include:

Video will be available later today on the McCormick YouTube page. 

Click here to read parts one, two, and three of the Keystone Agenda. 

Full remarks as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Frank and Mary Katharine, for those kind words, and to Building America’s Future for hosting this important event. It’s wonderful to be here in Delaware County with all of you. We’ll need your support to win this November, and I’m grateful for all you’re doing to get us across the finish line.

When our six daughters were younger, my wife Dina and I placed a lot of importance on Sunday dinner. Like most families, our weeks were hectic. Dina and I both worked, and our daughters had school, soccer practice, homework, friends. But we would always try to bring our blended family together on Sundays.

I’m sure many of you here today have similar rituals. Maybe it’s church then watching the Steelers (or the Birds!) on Sundays or Friday night Shabbat. We all do it for a simple reason: there’s nothing more important than family.

At their best, families are the core of our lives — and the core of our nation. They are what a great writer called the “little platoons” that shape who we are and give us a sense of meaning. They are our home and the foundation of our communities. They prepare each generation of Americans for their futures.

But sadly, many families in Pennsylvania and across the country don’t have this luxury. More and more children grow up without a stable, two-parent family around them. This trend is even more pronounced in minority communities, with only 33% of Black children and 55% of Hispanic children living with married birth parents. The breakdown of the family takes a toll on the next generation—kids in single-parent homes are 5 times more likely to live in poverty, more likely to have behavioral issues, and more likely to drop out of school.

Upward mobility is also stagnating, leaving the American Dream out of reach for more and more families. Children who are born to parents in the bottom fifth of family incomes have a 46% chance of remaining in that bottom fifth as adults and only a 3% chance of making it to the top fifth. And Americans are even having fewer babies, despite surveys showing that women wish they could have more.

My friends, America cannot be strong if our families are weak. If families are in decline, America will decline—and we can never let that happen.

For far too long, career politicians in Washington have made life harder, not easier, for working families in Pennsylvania and across the country. Inflation that’s driving up grocery bills, the cost of housing, and other essentials. Child care that’s gotten so expensive, it’s out of reach for many families. Kids trapped in failing schools. Seniors who save their whole lives for retirement but can’t get access to the care they need.

Under the watch of President Biden and Pennsylvania’s liberal Senator, Bob Casey, these problems are getting worse, not better. After 18 years in Washington, Senator Casey has not been a proactive leader and is merely a rubber stamp liberal who votes with President Biden 98% of the time. Unfortunately, the Biden-Casey policy failures that we’ve seen over the past three years disproportionately hurt working families. It’s time for new leadership and new ideas to actually solve problems for Pennsylvania families.

That’s why today, I am outlining a pro-family agenda for the Commonwealth and America. To set the stage, I will highlight some of the problems facing American families at every stage of life, from pregnancy to childhood, adulthood, and retirement, and a range of solutions that can support thriving and prosperous families. I will conclude by detailing four policy proposals for families that I will prioritize as Pennsylvania’s next Senator.

Principles to Guide Good Family Policy

I want to start by talking about the principles that should guide an effective pro-family agenda. We all know that most decisions affecting family life are made in the home or local communities—and that Washington shouldn’t be in the business of making those decisions anyway. But Washington can, and must, do more to promote and protect families. When policy failures in Washington are making life more difficult for families or there are opportunities to make productive investments in our nation’s future, then failing to act is a dereliction of duty.

Here’s what that looks like. 

First, we should make investments and policy decisions today that give every American the best and fairest shot at the American Dream—not a life of dependence on the government.  

Second, we should create a foundation of policies and incentives that help more families remain intact and live happier and healthier lives. 

Third, we must care for the most vulnerable among us through a sustainable safety net.

And finally, these investments and policy decisions must address every part of the lifecycle because family life is constantly evolving as we age and new life is brought into the world.

An ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. Stronger families mean a stronger society, happier lives, and the revitalization of the American Dream. It’s no secret that there are significant divisions in our country on social policy. But I think we can all agree that these are worthy goals that need more attention and leadership in Washington.

As your senator, I will fight to make parenthood accessible for every family, reduce the costs of raising a family, protect our kids from the harms of failing schools and social media, and help families thrive as adults and in retirement.

Make Parenthood Accessible for Every Family

Let’s start with parenthood. There are few special moments in life that will never come close to the joy of becoming a father. Any parent can tell you that it’s a feeling unlike any other. My wife Dina and I are blessed to share six amazing daughters between us, and watching our blended family grow into remarkable young women is truly an unparalleled joy.

But for far too many Americans, the blessing of children and being able to grow their families can feel out of reach. The average health-related costs of having a child, including pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, are nearly $19,000, including $3,000 out of pocket with insurance, and that’s if there are no complications. The average middle class family also spends nearly $13,000 in a child’s first year of life, and that’s only growing because of inflation.

At every stage of the process, we need to make parenthood more accessible for every family. Here are a few ways we can help more parents experience the miracle of life.

First, we need to enact legislation to make contraceptives more accessible and more affordable for women so they can have children when they’re ready.

Second, I will always support access to in-vitro fertilization to enable parents across our country to welcome children. My wife and I have many dear friends and colleagues who have used IVF, and we’ve seen how powerful this technology can be in turning despair into the celebration of a new life. When I was CEO of Bridgewater Associates, our team felt strongly that we had an obligation to support those trying to have children as well as parents in the workplace. That’s why as a company we helped pay for fertility services like IVF, which are often not covered by insurance and can be prohibitively expensive. As your senator, I will oppose any effort to restrict IVF. Period. 

But I’ll go even further. Every family should get a $15,000 tax credit for fertility expenses like IVF. This credit would put up to $15,000 in the pocket of families using IVF to have children, be fully refundable, and available in up to two tax years per family. That’s how you make this potentially life-changing treatment accessible to more families.

Third, we should promote adoption services, which help so many Americans expand their families and give young children a beautiful home, by making the adoption tax credit created by the 2017 Trump tax cuts fully refundable.

Finally, it is unacceptable that the United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among wealthy nations. The U.S. birth rate is also at a historic low of 1.6 children per woman, far below the 2.1 per woman level necessary to keep the population from declining. Despite this, in surveys women have consistently said for decades that, on average, they’d like to have 2 or more children. When combined, these statistics make for a major problem. And in Pennsylvania, at least five counties have no hospitals, birth centers, or providers offering obstetric care. We should expand obstetric training and resources for rural hospitals and providers, increase telehealth options, increase support for home visiting programs, and ensure Medicaid covers postpartum care for a full year after birth in every state.

Expand Access to Parental Leave

While we’ve made a lot of progress on the availability of paid parental leave, we have a ways to go. Only 27% of private sector workers nationwide have access to any paid family leave. That’s unacceptable. How can we say we’re pro-family when we don’t let people take time to start one?

When I was a CEO, I strongly encouraged everyone on the team to take paid leave—regardless of whether they were the mom or the dad. And it always warmed my heart to see invaluable teammates and friends experience the joy of having children, knowing they had the support they needed. But imposing a federal mandate is not the answer because it could force small businesses to raise prices or cut jobs to comply with a one-size-fits-all policy that they cannot tailor to the needs of their business or employees.

Instead, Congress should incentivize more employers to provide paid parental leave by making the Paid Family and Medical Leave Employer Tax Credit that was passed during the Trump Administration permanent and expanding it to cover more forms of paid leave, such as insurance, to give small businesses more flexibility. 

And for new and newly-adoptive parents who do not have access to paid leave or do not receive 100% percent of their wages during leave, we should allow them to pull forward up to three months of their Social Security benefits to finance it. While three months is a relatively small amount of time in retirement, for new parents this could provide a lifeline at a crucial time for their new family.

fter the early years of life, we need a pro-family agenda that continues to support parents. By age 8, the average cost of raising a child exceeds $15,000 per year, and that’s only going up because of inflation. 

One of the most important federal policies that supports families is the Child Tax Credit. The 2017 Trump tax cuts doubled the credit, allowing low- and middle-income families to receive up to $2,000 per child each year, of which up to $1,600 is fully refundable. President Trump and Republicans let parents keep more money—Bob Casey and Democrats voted against it. We should do even more. 

I support increasing the child tax credit to $4,200 per child under the age of 5 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17 and giving families the option to receive the credit in monthly installments, from mid-pregnancy to a child’s seventeenth birthday. And with inflation under President Biden and Senator Casey’s economic policies hitting pocketbooks every month, it’s critical that the Child Tax Credit be indexed to inflation going forward. Finally, families with any income should be able to access the credit from the first dollar of income to not disincentivize part-time work.

Thriving Families

Helping families thrive does not end with the transition to adulthood. In addition to the policies I’ve laid out today that help parents raise the next generation, we can support family life in other ways as well. A few key areas where I’ll focus are workforce development, affordable housing, and mental health, as well as retirement.

Workforce development is an important component to this family agenda because good-paying jobs support strong families. Unfortunately, we have a skilled labor shortage and too many Americans are out of a job—or out of the workforce altogether. More than one-third of 18 to 24 year-olds reported no income through wages or a salary in 2022—up from about 22% in 1990. Our nation’s greatest resource is its people, and we need to reimagine how we educate, train, and foster that resource.

We need more workforce training programs like the public-private partnership I recently saw in Tunkhannock, where Lackawanna College works with our natural gas industry to provide exceptional technical training for students who want a great-paying job in this important field. These programs and other vocational opportunities deserve the same respect and financial support our country directs toward a four-year college education, such as through a workforce Pell Grant and expanding registered apprenticeship programs.

In addition to developing our workforce, we need to get housing costs under control. Rent in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is up more than 20% compared to 2019, and with interest rates so 

high to fight inflation, the monthly payment on an average home in Pennsylvania is $460 higher than when President Biden took office—and wages aren’t keeping up. We should increase the 
supply of housing to bring prices down by expanding and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which will incentivize more private investment in affordable housing. 

Expanding Access to Mental Health Services

Mental health is another important priority because far too many Americans with serious mental illness are not able to get the care they need. Approximately 14 million Americans have serious mental illness, yet more than half have unmet needs for mental health services. Veterans particularly struggle with mental health, with approximately 22 veterans per day committing suicide. Yet according to the VA, 45% of veterans who use VA health services and commit suicide did not have a mental health diagnosis or receive mental health treatment.

We can expand access to care for those with serious mental illness by getting rid of Medicaid rules that significantly constrain access to inpatient psychiatric beds, increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates for care of the seriously mentally ill, and expanding access to mental health services at the VA. This is an area where Senator Casey and I have some agreement, but these reforms need to get done as soon as possible and haven’t gotten across the finish line yet.

Supporting Seniors During Retirement

Finally, we must take care of our seniors and those near retirement. Senator Casey is lying about my position. Let me be perfectly clear: our government must keep the promises it made and protect Social Security and Medicare benefits. That’s my position, that’s President Trump’s position, and that’s the position of Republicans up and down the ballot.

We also need to address the growing cost of elder care, which can place a huge financial burden on families. Long-term care needs vary for every senior, but we need to provide more affordable options through expanding health savings accounts for seniors and leveraging long-term care insurance, while increasing access to home and community-based services.

Top Four Priorities

As your senator, I will always put problem solving over ideology, analytics and principles over politics, and addressing the root causes of problems over superficial solutions. Today, I’m putting forward four high-impact, concrete policy solutions to problems affecting families in the Commonwealth and across the nation. 

First, give every working family access to a tax-free savings account to pay for up to $10,000 per year in childcare costs. Eligibility for the FSA would begin in the middle of pregnancy and be available to any family with earnings to fund it and not be tied to a particular employer.

Second, give more low- and middle-income families access to childcare offered by faith-based and community organizations. The childcare plan that President Biden and Senator Casey supported would have also forced many faith-based organizations, including the Catholic Church and Orthodox Union, to choose between their religious mission and providing childcare services eligible for federal assistance. That’s ridiculous.

The Biden-Casey childcare plan would have also raised the average cost of child care by $13,000 per year. That government-centric solution is not the answer. Federal assistance programs should incentivize states to make it easier for faith-based and community organizations to open a childcare facility by streamlining licensing, relaxing worker education requirements, or reforming zoning. 

At the same time, let’s expand eligibility for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to 1.5 times the state median income for the equivalent size family and increase funding for the block grant. This would make a Pennsylvania family of four making $150,000 eligible for a voucher to use at the eligible child care provider of their choice. This ensures that parents, not bureaucrats in Washington, can decide where they use this assistance for childcare.

Third, expand school choice by providing a federal tax credit for contributions to scholarship funds. Far too many kids in the Commonwealth are being left behind by our education system. Nearly half of Pennsylvania’s fourth and eighth graders cannot read proficiently at grade level, and only 26% of eighth graders are proficient in math. This is also a national security issue—among highly developed countries, U.S. students rank 28 out of 37 in math.

Parents should have the right to choose the school that is best for their child, rather than being forced to attend failing schools based solely on where they live. We should be funding student success, not systems that fail to deliver results.

Growing up as the son of two Pennsylvania public school teachers, education meant everything, from food and shelter to the expectations that my parents set for my brother and me. I feel that same sense of responsibility for our six daughters with my wife, Dina.

I recently read about the story of a student named Myles Slade-Bowers from outside Harrisburg. He was supposed to go to a public high school that year after year is rated as one of the worst performing in the Commonwealth. But after applying for and securing a scholarship from one of Pennsylvania’s school choice scholarship programs, Myles instead went to a nearby college prep school and later went on to attend High Point University.

It’s stories like these that show why the General Assembly needs to expand school choice in Pennsylvania. But that’s not enough—we also must act at the federal level. I support the proposed Educational Choice for Children Act, which would create a federal tax credit that allows individuals and businesses to make tax-deductible contributions to organizations that provide scholarships to low- and middle-income families. This could provide tens of thousands of Pennsylvania students with scholarships to attend the school of their choice, all funded by private donations. 

Senator Casey won’t support this legislation because he’s against giving kids in failing schools the ability to move to the school of their choice. That’s because Senator Casey is beholden to the same teachers unions that kept kids out of the classroom for years during COVID. But here’s what really makes me angry: Senator Casey went to a parochial school, yet he opposes giving his constituents in failing public schools the same opportunity. Pennsylvania deserves a senator who supports school choice. Because choosing where your child goes to school should not be a privilege only reserved for wealthy and well-connected parents.

Finally, ban children under the age of 16 from using social media. A study from the Centers for Disease Control last year found that 20% of 12- to 17-year-olds have had at least one major depressive episode. Researchers such as Jonathan Haidt have documented how addictive and anxiety-inducing social media is as a major driver of this mental health crisis among teenagers. Haidt singles out how unfettered access to social media during puberty can create unhealthy attachment to social media and being online. 

Congress has repeatedly failed to update federal laws such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that were meant to protect kids online in the early days of the Internet. We need to come together in a bipartisan way to address this crisis and protect children by properly treating kids under 16 as minors needing protection from the harmful effects of social media. 

These four policies provide a sampling of the ideas and leadership that I would bring to Washington as Pennsylvania’s next senator. I will fight for every family in the Commonwealth at every stage of life to solve problems and create opportunity.

We need a leader who is going to bring real change.

We need a leader who has ideas grounded in experience and a set of principles for investing in thriving families.

We need a leader who has tangible policy ideas and will fight to make them a reality.

We need a leader focused on action, not press releases.

Bob Casey has not demonstrated leadership or delivered results. His government-centric approach that throws taxpayer money and regulations at problems from Washington has failed time and time again.

Pennsylvania needs an outsider who will shake up the status quo in the Senate and push for bold and aggressive action on behalf of working families. That’s what I’ll do with your support in November. Pennsylvania’s families deserve it.

Thank you.