The expanded child tax credit payments may last for one more year instead of five in the Democrats’ new proposed spending plan, reports CNBC.
Thousands of Americans have received monthly checks since July 2021 following passage of the American Rescue Plan. But policymakers are now deciding the future of the payments as part of the proposed reconciliation package, with some suggesting extending the benefit for just one year. Previously, the Biden administration proposed extending the enhanced credit through 2025.
Natalie Foster, co-founder and co-chair of the Economic Security Project, told CNBC the checks should stick because they are working.
“When something works, you grab it and you run and you build on it,” Foster told CNBC. “And we know these checks are working.”
A study from the Center on Poverty and Social Poverty at Columbia University showed that the checks lifted 3.5 million kids out of poverty. Another study by the Urban Institute found that the program, if extended, could lower the child poverty rate to 8.4 percent from 14.2 percent.
“This is an absolutely critical investment and one that we can afford to make,” said Ashley Burnside, a policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy.
Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democratic lawmaker who said he won’t support a $3.5 trillion social safety net bill, wants to see a more focused enhanced tax credit program. He has proposed limiting it to families with income of $60,000 and adding a work requirement – a prerequisite that would mean 37.4 million children across the U.S. missing out on the credit, according to the Niskanen Center.
“I think that sent a very good message that cash aid of this sort are meant to encourage and support some effort to get into the labor force,” Robert Doar, president of the American Enterprise Institute and a former Social Security administrator in New York state and New York City, told the news outlet.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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