Paying couples to get married?

In an effort to motivate poorer couples to get and stay married, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback has helped institute a pilot program in the District of Columbia that actually pays couples up to $9,000 for getting married. Brownback has said he hopes the program will eventually be implemented nationwide. The money isn't simply a handout--couples in the program are required to take additional steps like buying a home or expanding a business to qualify for federal matching funds. Nonetheless, it's designed with the goal of supporting marriage. "The welfare system penalizes marriage," Brownback tells USA Today, and that's hard to argue with. But is this the right solution? In context with Brownback's other efforts to reduce or eliminate social service programs, it looks like part of a broader plan to go back in time--to an era when money was much more of a motivator for marriage, an era when women got married less because they wanted to and more because, financially, they had to in order to survive.

Look, I agree that some of the financial disincentives to marriage should be removed. And that poverty adds strain to marriages. But tackling this without tackling the more systemic causes of poverty seems shortsighted. You really want to support marriages for poor families, senator? Show your support for federally-funded day care.