The Treasury Department and IRS announced Friday that they have sent out $15 billion in payments to families as part of the fourth monthly child tax credit payment.
The money is going to families that include about 61 million children.
The coronavirus relief law that President Biden signed in July includes a one-year expansion of the child tax credit. As part of the expansion, families started receiving in July monthly advance payments of the credit. Families can receive monthly payments of up to $300 for children under age 6 and $250 for children ages 6 to 17.
The relief law also increased the total credit amount that families are eligible for and made the credit fully available to the lowest-income households.
Treasury said that it has disbursed a total of more than $61 billion to families since the monthly payments started.
The monthly payments are currently set to end in December absent congressional action. The Biden administration and congressional Democrats are both interested in extending them as part of a social-spending package that they are aiming to pass this year on a Democratic-only basis through the budget-reconciliation process.
“Since July, the advance Child Tax Credit has provided monthly direct assistance to families to help them cover basic household essentials like food and childcare,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a news release.
“It’s clear this tax relief is meaningfully improving the lives of children in every corner of the country, which is why Congress must act to extend it so these monthly payments don’t end after December.”