Romney: Social Programs Must Stop Discriminating Against Married Couples

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney pledged in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV that, as president, he will educate American youth on the need to marry before having children.

Asked how he would strengthen American families on Friday, Romney pointed to a study from several years ago that found kids do better in school and are more likely to avoid social problems when they share a meal with their family.

“There is no question that there is another big difference — which is having both a mom and a dad at home,” said the former Massachusetts governor. “There are a lot of homes that do not have that option: a single mom or divorce; whether there is a death or someone has had kids out of wedlock.”

See our exclusive interview. Story continues blow.



Romney described the advantages of two-parent families. “I’ll tell you, it is a huge advantage to have a mom and a dad that can share the financial resources to help their kids, work in the home to help each child with a little time devoted to each child,” he said.

“We will work very hard for our young people to understand that there is a big advantage to getting married before having kids and that bringing them together, having time to join as a family.”

Romney's wife Ann recently told Newsmax that her husband almost never brought work home during his time at Bain Capital so he could spend more time with the family, a practice that the candidate acknowledged in the interview.

“We, my family, had family night once a week where I did my very best to make sure that I was there with the family,” he said. “We had games and snacks and so forth together.

"Families that are together I think have a better prospect of standing up to the world.”

Pressed to give specifics of what he might do differently, Romney pointed to possible new legislation or a policy change.

“There’s only one piece of legislation or policy that might relate to this that comes to mind immediately and that is that some of our social welfare programs, our safety net programs, discriminate against people who are married,” he added.

“So if you’re a single mom and you are below income — if you happen to marry the father of your children — why then, you may no longer qualify for Medicaid, or for housing vouchers, or for food stamps,” he explained.

“So, we’ve made it a disadvantage to get married in some respects and that’s something I’d like to correct and find a way to do that.”

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