Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement applauding the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means for its initial draft of its portion of the Build Back Better budget bill, which expands the Child Tax Credit (CTC) through 2025 and makes the credit fully refundable on a permanent basis. Bennet secured the expanded CTC in the American Rescue Plan Act that President Biden signed into law earlier this year:
“I’ve traveled over 1,800 miles across Colorado over the past month, and wherever I went, families told me what a difference the Child Tax Credit is making in their lives. The monthly payments are helping them put food on the table and pay for school supplies, music lessons, and summer camp. One mom told me she’s finally able to say ‘yes’ to her kids, after years of saying ‘no.’
“It has been decades since Washington has put kids and families at the front of the agenda. We have to keep them there. I applaud the House Ways and Means Committee for extending the stronger Child Tax Credit through 2025 and ensuring the credit remains available to 27 million kids in low-income families who, until this year, were inexplicably barred from the full amount. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to adopt these critical improvements.”
The House Ways and Means Committee budget bill would also:
- Repeal the 2017 Trump tax change requiring children to have a Social Security Number to be eligible for the CTC.
- Make improvements to better ensure CTC payments follow the child in the event the family’s living arrangements change during the year.
- Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) through 2025.
- Provide $9 billion to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through 2025 to help the agency administer the CTC, EITC, and CDCTC.
Bennet has championed the expansion of the CTC for years. In March 2021, Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act, which includes a one-year expansion of the CTC based on Bennet’s American Family Act. This expansion is on track to cut child poverty in America nearly in half this year and benefit 90% of the nation’s children. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau released last month found that families receiving the CTC experienced significantly less hunger and economic hardship, underscoring the broad and immediate benefits of the policy.