Vance leans into pro-family policy to spin his past "cat ladies" comments

• Vance's visibility comes as the Trump campaign has struggled to shape its messaging after the Democratic ticket turnaround that sent Harris blazing across the trail, triggering anxiety among the former president's aides.

Driving the news: Vance on Sunday attempted to clarify his now-infamous jab from a 2021 "Tucker Carlson Tonight" interview criticizing "childless cat ladies" and "people without children" on the left, naming Vice President Kamala Harris (who has two step children) and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (who has since adopted twins with his husband).

• Vance contended the Harris-Walz campaign has "frankly lied" about his comment, framing the point he was trying to make as a push for more family friendly policies — like expanding the child tax credit — arguing, "Our country has become anti-family in its public policy."
• Vance told CBS he'd "love to see a child tax credit that's $5,000 per child."
• Pressed by CNN's Dana Bash, he continued, "I never criticize people for not having kids; I criticize people for being anti-child."

Yes, but: Buttigieg responded to Vance's characterization of Democrats as "anti-family," saying on CNN's "State of the Union." "Let's be clear — we're the ones trying to get the child tax credit expanded, and JD Vance couldn't be bothered to show up in the Senate and vote for it."

• Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan bill earlier this month to expand the child tax credit — a vote Vance was not present for, as he was scheduled to visit the U.S.-Mexico border, NBC reported.
• Speaking to CBS' "Face the Nation," Vance characterized the vote as a "show vote," adding, "And if I had been there, it would have failed."

Zoom out: In a separate Sunday television appearance, Vance was asked about his suggestion to give more votes to parents, asserting to ABC's Jonathan Karl, "It's not a policy proposal; it's a thought experiment."

• "If it was a policy proposal, I would have made the policy proposal in my two years in the United States Senate," he continued on ABC's "This Week," arguing his comments during a speech at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute were in response to Democratic proposals to allow younger Americans to vote.

Friction point: One of Vance's main lines of attack on Walz centers around the Democratic VP nominee's retirement from the Army National Guard before his battalion was deployed to Iraq and claims he has tried to "embellish" his 24-year military career.

• In a Wednesday campaign stop, Vance slammed Walz over "stolen valor garbage," pointing to a video shared by his opponents' campaign in which Walz pushes for gun reform, referencing weapons he "carried in war." Walz was deployed to Italy after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and did not see combat.
• The Harris-Walz campaign has said Walz "misspoke" in the video.
• "He misspoke; another word is that he lied about it," Vance said, contending Walz "should have to correct the record."

The other side: Buttigieg — a military veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan and who was a contender in Harris' veepstakes himself — fired back on CNN.

• "The fact that a veteran wants to go out and disparage another veteran just goes against certainly everything I learned ... during my time in service," Buttigieg said, referencing Vance's tenure in the Marines as a combat correspondent.

Go deeper: JD Vance's rise: From "Hillbilly Elegy" to Trump's VP pick