Democrats working on legislation to provide $3,000 payments per child amid pandemic
In one draft of the proposal, the IRS would deposit checks worth $300 every month per child younger than 6 and $250 every month per child age 6 to 17. This would give parents $3,000 per year for each child between the ages of 6 to 17, and $3,600 per child under age 6.
The changes would last for a year, but lawmakers would then push to make them permanent, another Democratic aide said.
The source also confirmed to CNN that House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal of Massachusetts is directly involved in the effort to write the expansion of the child tax credit, as well as House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Rep. Suzan DelBene, Democrat of Washington.
Eligibility for the benefit, similar to the stimulus checks, would be based on family income for the prior tax year and be phased out at a certain income amount, the Post reported.
A White House official didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment.
A one-year expansion would cost about $120 billion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan fiscal watchdog.
The President’s proposal also includes an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to more low-income workers, along with $1,400 stimulus checks, increased unemployment, nutrition and housing aid, among other measures.
Biden also noted that the proposal would reduce poverty among Black families by one third and among Hispanic households by almost 40%.
The American Rescue Plan would augment many of the measures in Congress’ historic $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill from March and in the $900 billion legislation from December, which was scaled back to garner support from Senate Republicans.
The $3 trillion Heroes Act, which the House passed in May, included similar enhancements to the child tax credit.
More than 48 million households are expected to claim the child tax credit for 2020, according to Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Katie Lobosco contributed to this report.
