Family

Conservatives Want the Government To Pay Americans To Get Married and Have Kids

A Heritage Foundation report proposes tax credits and family accounts to incentivize family formation.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | From the May 2026 issue

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Cohabiting couples with children are sought for a "marriage bootcamp," ads on radio and social media would announce. If they make it through, they'd have a communal wedding at camp's end and be matched with a mentor couple to help the bond stick. They'd even be paid $5,000 on their wedding day to help encourage family formation.

While the above scenario sounds like a marriage-minded reality TV series, it's actually an idea from "Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years," a report put out by the Heritage Foundation on January 8.

That sort of marriage bootcamp—orchestrated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in collaboration with churches, foundations, and private donors—is just one of the conservative think tank's proposals "to help to reverse the trend of the declining formation of families" and "restore family to the center of American life."

Government-backed marriage programs don't have a stellar success rate. The report's authors admit that past........

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