Democrats want to send up to $ 3,600 per child to households

Democrats in the House are expected to announce their plan on Monday to send up to $ 3,600 per child to families, a large but temporary extension of the relief to households that experts predict could lift millions of poverty.

The proposal, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, will add more information to President Joe Biden’s call to extend the child tax credit as part of its 1.9 billion Covid-19 emergency lending legislation. An assistant said the plan is subject to change before it is formally announced.

• The proposal would provide for $ 3,600 per year for children under 6 and $ 3,000 for children under 18.
• The money will be distributed monthly by the IRS from July.
• The payments will phase out for individuals earning more than $ 75,000 and couples earning more than $ 150,000.

The proposal will increase the size of the child tax credit, which under current law provides $ 2,000 for children under 17 and is distributed annually.

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement that the pandemic “drives families deeper and deeper into poverty, and that it is devastating.”

“We are making the child tax credit more generous, accessible and by paying it out monthly,” Neal said. “This money is going to be the difference in a roof over someone’s head or food on their table. That’s how the tax code is supposed to work for those who need it most, and as long as I’m chairman of the ways. Committee, that’s what you can expect to see from us. ‘

The proposal is expected to be included in Biden’s full $ 1.9 billion relief plan, although it must meet certain technical criteria, as the Democrats insist on continuing through a congressional process that will enable them to ‘ to circumvent a potential GOP filibuster in the Senate.

Biden said a pressure for a federal minimum wage of $ 15 is not eligible for the parliamentary rules governing the process, known as reconciliation.

Although Republicans have criticized the $ 1.9 billion plan as too large, it is possible that strengthening the child tax credit will receive at least two-party support. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on Thursday announced his own plan to give households an even larger child allowance and on a permanent basis. Romney partially funded his plan by cutting back on other spending programs.

A Romney spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Democrats’ plan. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment. White House spokeswoman Rosemary Boeglin said last week that the Biden government wants to work with lawmakers to devise a permanent plan to increase assistance to families with children.

Increasing the amount of aid the U.S. distributes to families with children will make the country more in line with the amount of aid provided by other developed countries, which also usually have lower levels of child poverty. The Covid pandemic has increased tensions on families, leaving millions unemployed and closing schools across the country.

According to Columbia University’s Center for Poverty and Social Policy, Biden’s economic relief agenda – including the child tax credit boost and other measures – would halve the US child poverty rate.

Although plans to increase assistance to households with children are widely supported by Democrats, Neal’s proposal has had to do with technical criticism of progressives. After The Washington Post reported on the plan for the first time on Sunday, Matt Bruenig, an analyst on the left, wrote that the ‘administrative design here is a mess’.

Bruenig writes that the plan is wrong by using previous year’s tax information to determine the size of a family’s monthly payment, even though they are eligible for the program on the current year.

“This will lead to * both * underpayment and too many payments. And the too many payments will cause refunds through surprising tax bills,” Bruenig wrote in a post on Twitter.

The plan is also likely to receive criticism from Republicans, who have insisted on narrowing the aid package and targeting it more closely.

A counter-proposal from ten Republican senators last month, including Romney and Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, lowered the child tax credit increase.

Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, who supported efforts to increase child tax credit, also came out against Romney’s plan, suggesting that GOP support could be limited. The two senators have said they do not support families in which parents are unemployed.

“We have long said that the child tax credit should be further increased to help working families. In the current pandemic relief bill, which we are considering, we will increase the child tax credit to $ 3,500 and $ 4,500 for young children,” the two senators said. .

“However, we do not support the conversion of the child tax credit into what is called ‘child allowance’ which is paid out as a universal basic income to all parents. It is not tax relief for working parents; it is welfare assistance,” they added.