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

Democrats in the House are expected to present on Monday their plan to send up to $ 3,600 per child to families, a vast but temporary expansion of home help that experts have projected could draw millions of poverty.

The proposal, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, would add more detail to President Joe Biden’s request to extend the children’s tax credit as part of its Covid-19 relief legislation. $ 1.9 trillion. An aide said the plan was subject to change before it was formally released.

• The proposal would provide $ 3,600 per year for children under 6 and $ 3,000 for children under 18.
• The money would be distributed in monthly installments by the IRS beginning in July.
• Payments would be phased out for people earning more than $ 75,000 and couples earning more than $ 150,000.

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

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

“We’re making the children’s tax credit more generous, more accessible and paying it off monthly,” Neal said. “This money will be the difference on a roof over someone’s head or the food on the table. That’s how the tax code is supposed to work for those who need it most, as long as I’m president of the forms and means Committee, is what you can expect from us. “

The proposal is expected to be included in Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion relief plan, although it will have to conform to certain technical criteria, as Democrats are pushing forward through a process. Congress that will allow them to evade a potential GOP filibuster in the Senate.

Biden has said it was no longer possible to get a push to get a federal minimum wage of $ 15 under the parliamentary rules governing the process, known as reconciliation.

While Republicans have criticized the $ 1.9 trillion plan for being too big, raising the child tax credit may get at least some bipartisan support. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on Thursday released his own plan to give households even greater child compensation permanently. Romney funded his plan in part by reducing 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 any requests for comment. White House spokeswoman Rosemary Boeglin said last week that the Biden administration wants to work with lawmakers to come up with a permanent plan to increase attendance for families with children.

Increasing the amount of aid the United States distributes to families with children would help the country align with the amount of assistance provided by other developed nations, which also generally have lower levels of child poverty. The Covid pandemic has increased pressure on families, leaving millions unemployed and closing schools across the country.

According to the Columbia University Center for Poverty and Social Policy, Biden’s economic relief agenda (including increasing the child tax credit and other measures) would halve the U.S. child poverty rate.

While plans to increase aid to homes with children receive widespread support from Democrats, Neal’s proposal has faced some technical criticism from progressives. After the Washington Post first reported on the plan on Sunday, Matt Bruenig, a left-wing analyst, wrote that “administrative design here is a disaster.”

Bruenig wrote that the plan went wrong using the previous year’s tax information to determine the size of a family’s monthly payment, even though their eligibility for the program is based on the current year.

“This will lead to * both * insufficient and tropical payments. And overpayments will trigger recoveries through surprise tax bills,” Bruenig wrote in a Twitter post.

The plan is also likely to face criticism from Republicans, who have insisted on reducing the relief package and making it narrower.

A counter-proposal from 10 Republican senators last month, including Romney and Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska reduced the increase in the child tax credit.

Mr. Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, who have supported efforts to increase the size of the children’s tax credit, also opposed Romney’s plan, suggesting that GOP support could be limited. Both senators said they did not support helping families in which parents do not work.

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

“However, we do not support converting the child tax credit into what has been called a ‘child allowance’, paid as universal basic income to all parents. This does not mean a tax reduction for working parents. “It’s care,” they say. added.