Posted on 03/17/2019 9:48:15 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
White House officials, Republican members of Congress and evangelical leaders gathered Thursday for “Making Families Great Again,” a conference on family policy hosted by the Hungarian Embassy at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
Led by President Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz Party, Hungary has become a poster child for passing nationalist pro-family policies over the last several years.
With nearly a decade-worth of data, Hungarian officials claimed Thursday that policies instituted over the last several decades that have incentivized marriage and childbirth have helped boost marriage and birth rates in Hungary at a time many countries struggle with those issues.
“I was very proud to be a minister here and hearing from our American friends how much they admired the Hungarian family policies,” Katalin Novák, the Hungarian minister of state for family, youth and international affairs who gave a keynote address at the event, told The Christian Post in an interview.
“They say that Hungary can be a role model for them in this issue. They said that we can show an example to the rest of the world for pro-family issues.”
Katalin Novak, Hungary's minister of state for family, youth and international affairs, speaks during a panel session at the "Making Families Great Again" policy conference hosted by the Hungarian Embassy at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She was joined on the panel by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins (M) and White House special assistant Kathryn Talento (L). | TWITTER/NATALIN NOVAK
Hungary’s birth rate fell below replacement level decades ago and the nation has struggled to repopulate. Unlike some of its European counterparts that have relied on immigration to boost population totals, the Orbán government has made clear that it does not view mass immigration as the answer.
Rather, the administration believes the answer is to ensure that Hungarian citizens have all the incentives they need to build large and happy families.
Today, the Hungarian government spends nearly 5 percent of its GDP towards incentives for those in the predominantly-Christian nation to get married and have children — lots of them.
Through policies, subsidies and extensive tax reductions enacted since Orbán regained power in 2010, some parents are eligible to receive the equivalent a grant of about $36,000 to help pay a home mortgage, and the equivalent of about $9,000 from the government toward a seven-seater vehicle if they have the required number of children.
The list of incentives and benefits for parents in Hungary is quite extensive and includes things like a state-financed daycare system, three years of paid parental leave, free kindergarten, subsidized vacations, assistance paying off student loans, vacation benefits and exemption from income tax for mothers with four or more children.
According to Novák, Hungary has seen positive results spanning from the time Orbán retook control of the government in 2010.
From 2010 to 2018, she says, marriage rates in Hungary have increased by 43 percent (the highest number in 20 years), divorce rates have decreased by 22.5 percent, fertility has increased by 21 percent (highest in 20 years) and abortion has decreased by 33.5 percent.
This has happened as birth rates continue to slip in countries across the developed world, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
“These numbers and figures, they speak for themselves,” Novák assured. “[C]ompare it to the socialist trends, the left-liberal government.”
Participants in the conference included White House director of strategic communications Mercedes Schlapp, President Trump’s special assistant on domestic policy Kathryn Talento and Health and Human Services senior policy advisor Valerie Huber.
The event also included Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., Andy Harris, R-Md., Paul Gosar, R-Ariz and Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb.
Others included Family Research Council President and USCIRF commissioner Tony Perkins, former White House advisor Sebastian Gorka, American Conservative Union Chair Matt Schlapp and as Emilie Kao, the director of the Heritage Foundation's DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society.
“We are working closely with the U.S. administration on family issues. They would also like to get some detail on our pro-family policies and the measures that we have introduced in the last nine years,” Novák, who is also the vice president of the Fidesz Party explained.
“We can already see in the new budget actually just introduced recently in the U.S. that it already has some important elements regarding pro-family measures. There are already important steps taken and we can see in President Trump’s speeches as well, he thinks it is very important that pro-family and pro-life values should be represented.”
So happy for them!
May their numbers increase and their Faith continue!
This is great news.
Wish we could get George Soros back there. Then they could abort him. Hurray for Hungary. MFGA
But have they got the birth rate back above replacement? No country that has ever fallen below in the modern era has ever gotten back up. Has Hungary?
..."Making Families Great Again" policy conference hosted by the Hungarian Embassy at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
I did not see that particular issue addressed by this article. That being said, I also did not read all three pages of the article. It is quite long. :)
You’re not a true Freeper until to can say “Proudly posting before reading the article!’’. :-)
As must as I despise George Soros, I’d rather he come to accept Christ as his Lord and Savior, repent of his actions, and then start to correct the wrongs he has done.
Yeah, there are so many times I have to remind myself that but for now having the wealth, there is no idea of what damage I may have done in this world. I know what I did wrong before accepting Christ and know the sins I’ve committed since accepting Christ....
I think that’s why so many older folks are scared to death of death itself.... nothing on this earth will prepare him or other lost souls for an eternity of Hell.
LOL!
I’ve failed!
Just bring them here and make them instant citizens. Problem solved-ours at least.
But if they have fewer kids liberals can say how good that is for environment and then at same time say we need refugees to take over the country because you did not have enough kids. Liberals are the facilitators of Trojan horses
I am half-Hungarian and engaged to a beautiful Hungarian woman.
Hungary has also proposed and will enact a rule where a family who has 4 children will pay no income taxes at all.
Indeed. They know what to focus on.
The list of incentives and benefits for parents in Hungary is quite extensive and includes things like a state-financed daycare system, three years of paid parental leave, free kindergarten, subsidized vacations, assistance paying off student loans, vacation benefits and exemption from income tax for mothers with four or more children.
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Sure looks a lot different than what the model was that built the US into a great nation. I fully applaud incentives for family growth, but this seems like it could be more of what we have here today: mothers having children for the wrong reasons. And are homosexuals couple's included? That could be a complete disaster.
Sure looks a lot different than what the model was that built the US into a great nation. I fully applaud incentives for family growth, but this seems like it could be more of what we have here today: mothers having children for the wrong reasons.
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I think it is meant to help make it possible for families who want to have more kids for the right reason to do so.
Let us know when we can congratulate you!Hungary has also proposed and will enact a rule where a family who has 4 children will pay no income taxes at all.
Imagine the effect that would have had on Rush Limbaugh!
Considering that he moved to Florida to avoid NY State taxation . . .
I think Bill Gates et al might consider adoption!On a philosophical note, I do approve of pro-family provisions such as the deduction for dependents which is in our tax code now. But I’d question whether materialistic considerations should predominate in the discussion of pro-family policy. When the government insists on being in charge of the children’s education and - as in Germany - outlaws homeschooling, that is a problem. Basically, the issue is whether the family owns the children, or the state does. The minute the state starts getting all enthusiastic about such an intimate thing as family size, you have to ask “Why does the government want this?” If the answer is, “So I’ll have more people to rule over,” that’s a problem which material incentives might not overcome.
And then there’s the issue of divorce. People need to know what they are getting into before marriage, and there must not be institutional reasons for marriages to break up. The “War on Poverty” was a tragedy for the black family, and didn’t do the white family a whole lot of good either.
The Tragedy of American Compassion by Marvin Olasky.
- Losing Ground:
- American Social Policy, 1950-1980
- Charles Murray
I wonder how many FReepers on onboard with taxpayers subsidizing couples to have children?
Because apparently that’s what it is going to take.
Ping!
Good for Hungary not wanting their population to be replaced by hoards of invading Saracens!
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