What the VP picks could mean for your wallet

Affordable housing is an important topic for many Americans and both Walz and Vance have addressed the issue.

In May 2023, Walz signed housing legislation that included $200 million in down payment assistance. The bill also had $200 million for housing infrastructure and $40 million for workforce housing.

“We expect Walz to be an advocate for demand-side approaches to housing,” Jaret Seiberg, analyst at TD Cowen wrote in a July statement. “These are the type of housing ideas we would expect in a Harris administration,” she wrote.

Demand-side approaches to housing aim to help individual households by improving housing quality or reducing monthly housing costs.

Meanwhile, Vance, who is also a proponent of affordable housing, highlighted the issue in his Republican National Convention acceptance speech and along the campaign trail.

“Prior to running for Senate, Vance argued that one key to tackling poverty is to address affordable housing,” and he has opposed institutional ownership of rental homes and Chinese buyers for U.S. real estate, Seiberg wrote.

Without action from Congress, trillions of tax breaks enacted by Trump are scheduled to expire after 2025, including the child tax credit, which will drop from $2,000 to $1,000 per child. 

Congress in 2021 approved a temporary expansion of the child tax credit, including upfront monthly payments, which reduced the child poverty rate to a historic low of 5.2% for 2021, according to a Columbia University analysis.

Following the federal policy, Minnesota enacted a refundable state-level child tax credit in 2023, which Walz described as “signature accomplishment.”    

“Minnesota’s new child tax credit is unusual in its narrowness,” said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation. “But it is the most generous in the nation for low-income households.” 

However, a permanent federal child tax credit expansion could be difficult, particularly amid a divided Congress and increasing concerns over the federal budget deficit.

Walz’s campaign did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Senate Republicans blocked a federal child tax credit expansion last week, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, described the vote as a “blatant attempt to score political points.”

Despite the failed procedural vote, Crapo voiced openness to negotiating a “child tax credit solution that a majority of Republicans can support.”

Democrats scheduled the vote partially in response to Vance, who has positioned himself as a pro-family candidate. Vance was not present for the Senate vote, but has…