‘The View’: Whoopi Goldberg Explains Why She’s ‘Insulted’ by Trump’s $5k for Baby Bonus Idea

Amanda Bell April 23, 2025, 2:00 pm

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According to The New York Times, Donald Trump and his administration are considering ways to increase childbirths in the United States, and one such proposal that’s been floating is giving $5,000 checks to new mothers after delivery. The View‘s cohosts covered the story as the first “Hot Topic” discussion of the day on Wednesday (April 23), and Whoopi Goldberg was particularly incensed by the idea. In fact, as she repeatedly explained, she was even “insulted” by the pitch.

“I am incredibly insulted by this because clearly, they don’t know how women’s bodies work, and they don’t know what it costs to raise [a child]. It’s not even $5,000 because you have cut it in half for taxes. So they’re offering you $2,500 to have a baby,” she explained. “Now, don’t forget about all the stuff they’ve cut.”

Sara Haines was also not a fan because she said it’s just “putting a Band-Aid on a deeper problem,” explaining, “We don’t have paid family leave in this country. We don’t have subsidized childcare. We have the highest maternal mortality rate; it’s 55% higher than the second place.” She also noted that the amount of money in question wouldn’t even cover the costs of the first year of a child’s life and said, “AI is going to be a problem for our entitlement programs way before the birth rate [affects the] entitlement programs.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin, meanwhile, expressed approval of the notion, saying, “The number one concern I hear from young people is that they want to have kids, but they don’t think they can afford it. And we could argue over whether it’s enough money or not, the $5000, but both Italy and France do this. You get a one-time payment when you have a child… $5,000 could go toward the out-of-pocket costs for delivering a child… If you put it in a 529 savings account when that child is born, by the time they’re 18, you’ll have twice that.” She did say she would want the policy to apply to more than just birth parents, adding, “This would need to apply to gay couples, not just to women who have children, and to adoptive parents, not just people who have children naturally.”

Sunny Hostin cited the 2024 CDC report indicating a 1% increase in birth rates in the U.S. and noted, “That increase was with Hispanic [populations] and Asian [populations]… They seem to be concerned about a decrease in other populations.” When challenged by Griffin, who asked, “Have they said, ‘This is to target only white families?'” Hostin agreed, “I didn’t say that. I just gave the facts.” She also noted that the advocates of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, were pushing for the administration to counter birth rate declines. “When we’re talking about the United States, we need to think about who’s proposing it and why,” she said.

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Goldberg closed out the discussion by listing out some of the particular programs she was referring to at the outset, saying, “Let me talk about some of the things that the administration has slashed, which is why I am so not only insulted by that amount of money — because $5,000, yes, it sounds like a lot of money, but if you can’t pay your rent, if you can’t pay for your after school programs for your kids…”

Griffin interrupted to ask, “Isn’t something better than nothing? … I feel like if [Joe] Biden proposed this, we would all be saying it’s groundbreaking.”

However, Goldberg continued to list off the cuts: “$1 billion in funding for schools and food banks to buy food, withdrew funding for investigating child sexual abuse and internet crimes against children, cut and fired the entire staff running a program to help low-income households pay their heating and cooling bills. Now, these families already exist… It seems to me that everything this administration seems to be doing is telling people not to have children. Why not make sure that kids that we already have a shot at good schooling? … If you want people to have children, you have to not scare them by cutting all these programs that they may need. These are not Black or white or Hispanic, these are human children, and I am insulted by that amount because you can’t even go to the hospital for $5,000.”

The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC