Stimulus news: Democrats set to propose yearly payment of $3,000 per child

Democrats on Monday will announce details of a proposed bill that would send monthly checks of around $300 to families with children up to age 17, according to the Washington Post.

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The payments, which would be administered by the Internal Revenue Service, would divide $3,600 over the course of a year for every child under the age of 6, as well as $3,000 per child for children ages 6 to 17.

As with the direct payment checks Americans have gotten from the federal government, the size of the benefit would diminish for those earning more than $75,000 per year, as well as for couples jointly earning more than $150,000 per year.

According to the plan the Post was able to see in advance, the payments would be sent monthly beginning in July and would last for a year.

The bill, being shepherded by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, would base eligibility for the payments on families’ prior-year income. The child benefit payments would be directly deposited into bank accounts as the first two stimulus payments were.

Neal’s bill, comes days after a similar bill was proposed by Republican Sen. Mitt Romney. Romney’s bill calls for $4,200 per year for every child up to the age of 6, as well as $3,000 per year for every child age 6 to 17.

Romney’s plan, called the Family Security Act, would include eliminating the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, in addition to other federal tax credits for children and working families.

Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, released a joint statement late Thursday criticizing Romney’s plan as “welfare assistance.”

Rubio and Lee proposed a plan that increases the child tax credit to $3,500, and $4,500 for young children. The current child tax credit is $2,000 a year.

Neal’s plan would see the payments last one year, though congressional Democrats have said they would support a plan for the policy to be made permanent later in the year, the Post reported.

According to the bill, families would be able to access an online portal to update information if their annual incomes decline and they became eligible for the payment.

“The pandemic is driving families deeper and deeper into poverty, and it’s devastating,” Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement Sunday.

“This money is going to be the difference in a roof over someone’s head or food on their table. This is how the tax code is supposed to work for those who need it most, and so long as I am Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, it’s what you can expect to see from us.”

Cox Media Group