By Alexandra E. Petri
Newly introduced legislation would reinstate a monthly child tax credit along with a $2,000 “baby bonus” for new parents.
Democratic Congressmembers Rosa DeLaura, Connecticut, Suzan DelBene, Washington and Ritchie Torres, New York, reintroduced the American Family Act, legislation that would make the child tax credit, expanded during the COVID pandemic, permanent and expand who is eligible.
“When we expanded and improved the Child Tax Credit in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan, it provided unprecedented economic security for American families. It was the largest tax cut for middle-class and working families in generations,” DeLauro said in a statement. “These monthly payments helped parents pay bills, keep healthy and nutritious food on the table, afford school clothes and supplies, pay for a music lesson or a new pair of cleats, or manage a mortgage or rent payment. It lifted nearly 4 million children out of poverty in one year alone. It worked, and it is time we get it working for families and children once more.”
Two-hundred-and-four members of Congress, including Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, are co-sponsors of the legislation.
Under the provisions of the bill, families with children 6 years of age and under would receive a payment of $300 per month, or $3,600 a year. That amount would drop to $250 a month, or $3,000 per year, per child ages 6 to 17, tacking on an extra year over the previous CTC which ended once a child turned 17.
Currently, the CTC is $2,000 payable at tax time and not in monthly installments.
Baby bonus
The CTC proposal is adding an extra provision to the existing CTC – a “baby bonus.”
The legislation would increase the size of the credit in the month a baby is born to $2,000, Roll Call reported.
This means for a child born in January, the family could receive up to $5,300 a year, before dropping to $3,600 the following year, based on income.
The current child tax credit, which expired in 2025, is available in the full amount for married couples filing jointly who earn up to $400,000 or, for individuals who earn up to $200,000. The credit drops incrementally above those income levels.
