New legislation would provide child tax credit for unborn babies
Zachary Halaschak
New sweeping House legislation introduced Monday would expand the child tax credit and also allow the benefit to cover the time that a baby is in a mother’s womb.
Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) reintroduced the package of bills as a companion to legislation introduced earlier this year in the Senate by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). The Providing for Life Act would dramatically expand financial support for children and families, another sign that boosted government support for families is becoming more popular within the GOP.
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The legislation would expand the child tax credit from its current level of $2,000 up to $3,500 for children aged 5 and under and $4,500 for those over the age of 5. It would also provide benefits retroactively post-birth for the time that a child is in the womb, a provision that Hinson contends will help families shoulder the financial burden of growing a family.
“The Providing for Life Act charts the policy course for a culture of life in America — it is about valuing life at every stage and making critical investments in the long-term well-being of families,” Hinson said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “From expanding the child tax credit for working families and unborn babies to ensuring expecting mothers have access to health care and resources, we can make a meaningful difference for women and children in need and strengthen American families.”
Hinson had previously introduced this legislation in September of last year alongside Rubio. The legislation came after the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which undid Roe v. Wade and left it up to the individual states to regulate the legality of abortion.
The legislation would also make the adoption tax credit fully refundable, meaning that households with no tax liability would receive a check from the government. The change would most benefit lower-income families who decide to adopt (given they pay little to nothing in income taxes).
But the expanded child tax credit isn’t the only measure included in the swath of bills.
The legislation aims to enhance paid parental leave and expands eligibility for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children to postpartum women. The package would require cooperation with child support for SNAP recipients and incentivize states to mandate rules requiring the father to pay for half of a woman’s pregnancy costs.
Additionally, the package seeks to curb abortion through several mechanisms. It would establish a federal clearinghouse of resources, including support for the Maternal Mental Health Hotline, through the establishment of the website life.gov.
It would ensure Title X funding is made available to pregnancy resource centers, which provide aid to women as an alternative to abortion, and works toward making sure that pregnant women on college campuses know their rights and have access to non-abortion resources, with the goal of empowering “women to choose life while continuing their education.”
The legislation illustrates a shift in the GOP toward favoring a bigger child tax credit and financial support for families.
Democrats have long favored an expanded child tax credit, and during the pandemic temporarily expanded it to $3,000, with $3,600 for children under 6. They also made it fully refundable with no income requirements — meaning that the government would simply send checks to families with dependent children with no earnings from work for the full amount of the credit.
While Republicans generally don’t support fully refundable tax credits — they equate it to welfare without work — the party has been more divided on increasing the overall size of the child tax credit, and in recent years, the shift is toward favoring a bigger benefit.
Rubio, who introduced the Senate version of the legislation, has pushed for an expanded tax credit for some time and has framed the issue as a logical extension of Republicans’ anti-abortion and pro-family agenda.
“Supporting pregnant mothers and their unborn children is essential, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because America’s continued strength depends on the next generation,” he said in a Monday statement. “This comprehensive legislation will provide real assistance for American parents and children in need. We need policies like these to show America that conservatives are pro-life across the board.”
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Democrats had worked to make the temporary coronavirus-era expansion of the child tax credit permanent, although their efforts were thwarted in large part due to the full refundability. That reverted it back to levels imposed by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which at the time doubled the credit to $2,000.
But those who want to expand the credit have noted that $2,000 credit doesn’t go as far in helping families now given the historic explosion of inflation since 2017. The purchasing power of $2,000 today is about $1,600 when the TCJA was signed.