Will Child Tax Credit Be In The Budget Bill? Working Families Tax Cut May Be Negotiated Out

The child tax credit may be negotiated out of the budget bill as Democrats struggle to find a compromise on the price tag of President Joe Biden’s most ambitious agenda item, CNN reports.

The child tax credit was one of the top priorities in the budget bill along with universal pre-K, paid leave, free community college, expanding Medicare, and combating climate change. Democrats had originally come to an agreement on a $3.5 trillion bill that would have funded those programs over a decade but Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., refuse to support a price tag that high.

President Biden acknowledged the fight within his party at a recent meeting.

"He was clear that maybe ... if there's 15 great things in this, we may have to settle for 10," said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

The child tax credit would provide families with up to $3,600 a year for each child up to age 6 and $3,000 for each one age 6 to 17 and is available for heads of households earning up to $112,500 and joint income earners making up to $150,000 a year.

Experts say the tax credits will bring millions of children out of poverty and cut the child poverty rate by 40%.

"There's nothing bigger than this. I'm a guy that fights for a whole lot of issues. And I do believe in paid family leave. I want all of it. But if you just want to look at the impact of a child's life, this is the biggest thing that we're doing," Booker added.

The urgency of the pandemic has brought financial burdens to millions of people all over the country as parents across the nation depend on the child tax credit to help make ends meet.

“I’m going to fight for it. This is a tax cut for working families. It will help 97% of families with children. I know firsthand the difference it will make,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.

The Internal Revenue Service sent out the third monthly child tax credit payment in mid-September, though many families still have not received the payment. The August distribution did not go well either as the agency said fewer than 15% of families who received a direct deposit in July were mailed paper checks in August. The IRS announced last week it was looking into the situation and found a technical issue that caused 2% of families to miss the September payment, CNN reported.