Democrats renew push for permanent child credit expansion

Democrats on Monday renewed their calls to make the expansion of the child tax credit permanent, after the Biden administration announced that monthly payments of the credit would start July 15.

“We must make this lifeline permanent, which is why Congressional Democrats will continue to champion an expanded Child Tax Credit — because we can only Build Back Better by putting families first,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement, deploying a phrase President Biden often uses to describe his economic-recovery agenda.

The coronavirus relief law Biden signed in March included a one-year expansion of the child tax credit. One part of the expansion was to direct the IRS to make advance payments of the credit from July though December, so that families receive funds in installments throughout the year instead of a single payment when they file their tax returns.

The law also increased the credit amounts and made the credit fully available to the lowest-income families.

The Treasury Department and IRS said Monday that the monthly payments would start on July 15, and would be made automatically to about 39 million households that include nearly 90 percent of children in the United States.

Democratic lawmakers praised the announcement on monthly payments, saying they will help families with their finances during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Thanks to the leadership of President Biden and Congressional Democrats, nearly 40 million families with children will soon have critical financial relief that will help sustain them during the pandemic and in the days ahead,” Pelosi said.

Congressional Democrats also reiterated that they want to make the expanded credit permanent in future legislation, saying the expansion should not have an expiration date. Biden proposed last month in his American Families Plan to make the credit permanently fully refundable, while extending other parts of the expansion through 2025. 

“These monthly payments cannot simply stop after one year or five years,” Democratic Reps. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Suzan DelBene (Wash.) and Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), who have introduced legislation to permanently expand the credit, said in a joint statement. “We remain committed to making the expanded and improved Child Tax Credit permanent in the American Families Plan.”

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), whose panel has jurisdiction over taxes, said that making the expansion of the credit permanent is an important way of providing assistance to families.

“Millions of families are counting on us, and the Ways and Means Committee stands ready to make it happen,” Neal said in a statement.

Democrats in the Senate also called for the expansion of the credit to be cemented.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), a leader of efforts on the the child tax credit in the Senate, said in a statement that he is “going to keep fighting to ensure the expansion of the CTC is made permanent.”

One of the top obstacles to making the child tax credit permanent is the cost of doing so. Pelosi argued last week that the cost of child poverty is higher than the cost of cementing the expansion of the credit. 

—Updated at 3:27 p.m.