Democrats Move To Add $3,000 Per Child Tax Credits To COVID Relief Bill

House Democrats unveiled new legislation Monday that aims to give families $3,600 per child under six years old and $3,000 per child seven to seventeen in a new stimulus bill.

The 22-page bill allows families to obtain the payments though an increase in accessibility to Child Tax Credits. Under the current system for accessing Credits, up to $2,000 can be paid for children under the age of seventeen per year. The new system would also make payments monthly.

“We cannot stop here,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut). “We must use this moment to pass the American Family Act and permanently expand and improve the child tax credit. One year is not enough for the children and families battling not just the coronavirus, but poverty, too,”

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and other Republicans support the increasing of Child Tax Credits. Romney revealed a plan in January, which would give a monthly payment of $350 for young children and $250 for school-age children up to seventeen. The Romney plan however would eliminate other aid programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as well as local and state tax deductions for families.

The amending of Child Tax Credits is one of the original points of President Joe Biden‘s American Rescue Plan. “All told, the American Rescue Plan would lift 12 million Americans out of poverty and cut child poverty in half. That’s five million children lifted out of poverty,” Biden said.