The American Family Act Will Increase the Value of the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $6,360 for Newborns, $4,320 for Children Age One to Six, and $3,600 for Children Age Six to 17.
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and 39 of their Senate colleagues reintroduced the American Family Act to permanently expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for middle-class and low-income families, one of the most effective tools to reduce poverty and put money back in the pockets of working families.
“The expanded Child Tax Credit benefited 61 million American kids, helped cut childhood poverty nearly in half, and cut hunger by a quarter for families,” said Bennet. “Parents across Colorado told me it reduced their stress and made it easier for them to afford child care, rent, and school supplies. It was the best thing we’ve done for kids and families in generations. Restoring the expanded Child Tax Credit is essential to ending childhood poverty in this country and closing the largest income inequality gap we have ever seen.”
“The Child Tax Credit is a proven lifeline to millions of children and families across the country,” said Booker. “It has lifted children in America out of poverty, and allows families a chance to breathe easier and meet basic needs. We saw it was successful — and then we let it expire. I will fight every day to create a tax code that better reflects our shared values and supports hardworking families and children. We must reinstate the fully expanded Child Tax Credit and I am proud to join my colleagues in this fight.”
“With the most ambitious expansion of the Child Tax Credit to date, this legislation would put more money back into the pockets of working families while helping lift millions of children out of poverty,” said Warnock. “Expanding the Child Tax Credit is not only the right thing to do morally, but also the smart thing to do economically; I will keep fighting to get this done and ensure Congress invests in our children and families with more urgency than we invest in our country’s millionaires and billionaires.”
“American families need a break and expanding the Child Tax Credit would be a lifeline for working families with children,” said Cortez Masto. “While President Trump and his Republican allies plot tax giveaways for billionaires, I’m focused on cutting taxes for working Americans.”
“As costs have risen, wages haven’t kept up. And now Republicans want to give tax cuts to billionaires. What we need to do instead is give workers and families more tools to help make ends meet,” said Durbin. “The American Family Act would lift millions of Americans and children out of poverty and make sure our tax system is fair to the workers and families who have been left behind.”
“There’s a big economic debate happening right now, and you couldn’t have a more stark contrast between what the two sides are fighting for. On one hand you’ve got Trump and Republicans attacking Social Security and raising household costs to pay for billionaire handouts, and on the other, Democrats are trying to cut taxes for typical families getting clobbered by the cost of living,” said Wyden. “Raising a family in this country ought to be easier and more affordable, which is why this bill will be right at the heart of the Democratic economic agenda going forward.”
The 2021 expansion of the CTC in the American Rescue Plan Act, based on the American Family Act, led to a historic reduction in poverty in the United States, particularly for children. Research showed that child poverty fell immediately and substantially to 5.2%, its lowest level on record.
Specifically, the American Family Act would:
- Increase the value of the CTC from the current level of $2,000 per child to $6,360 for newborns, $4,320 for children ages one through six, and $3,600 for children age six through 17;
- End the longstanding, discriminatory policy that reduces the value of the Child Tax Credit for low-income families, ensuring that the families of 17 million low-income children left out of the CTC under current law will receive the same credit as families in the middle class;
- Provide for monthly delivery of the credit so families have access to the credit as bills arrive; and
- Index the CTC for inflation to preserve the value of the credit moving forward.
For a decade, Bennet has fought to expand and improve the Child Tax Credit. In 2015, Bennet introduced the Child Tax Credit Improvement Act to index the credit to inflation, increase the value of the credit for families with young children, and allow families to receive a larger refund from the credit on their tax returns. In 2017, Bennet and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown first introduced the American Family Act to triple the credit for all children and make the credit fully refundable. In 2021, Bennet, Brown, and Senate colleagues successfully led the push to include a child benefit based on the American Family Act in the American Rescue Plan. In 2022, Bennet successfully rallied his colleagues to not support corporate tax breaks without passing an expanded Child Tax Credit. In 2023, Bennet, Brown, and Senate colleagues introduced the Working Families Tax Relief Act to make permanent the American Rescue Plan’s expansion of both the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. Last year, Bennet continued to push for an expanded Child Tax Credit as part of the Wyden-Smith Tax Relief for American Workers and Families Act. This year, Bennet introduced a budget resolution amendment to reduce child poverty through an expanded Child Tax Credit. As Coloradans continue to face high costs, Bennet will continue fighting to restore this lifeline for families and end childhood poverty in this country.
This legislation is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Alsobrooks, Baldwin, Blumenthal, Blunt Rochester, Cantwell, Coons, Duckworth, Fetterman, Gallego, Gillibrand, Hassan, Heinrich, Hirono, Kaine, Kelly, Kim, King, Klobuchar, Luján, Markey, Merkley, Murphy, Murray, Padilla, Peters, Reed, Rosen, Sanders, Schatz, Schiff, Schumer, Shaheen, Slotkin, Smith, Van Hollen, Warner, Warren, Welch, and Whitehouse.
The text of the American Family Act is available HERE and a summary of the bill is available HERE.