Republican Senator Mitt Romney proposed permanent monthly payments to American families on Thursday, as the country struggles with falling birth and marriage rates and strangling the coronavirus pandemic in the economy.
The Family Safety Act of the Utah legislator and former Republican presidential candidate requires monthly payments of $ 350 per family, per child, for children up to 5 years old. Instead, children aged 6 to 17 would be entitled to a $ 250 payment.
“American families are facing greater financial difficulties, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and marriage and birth rates are at an all-time low,” Romney said in a statement. “In addition, we haven’t fully reformed our family support system in nearly three decades, and our changing economy has left millions of families behind.”
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Payments would be reduced by $ 50 per child for every $ 1,000 in income above current Child Tax Credit limits – which are $ 200,000 for single users and $ 400,000 for couples.
Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, arrives in the Senate for a roll call vote to confirm Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, January 26, 2021. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
“Now is the time to renew our commitment to families to help them meet the challenges they face in taking on the most important job any of us will ever do – raising the children of our society,” said Romney. “This proposal offers a path to greater security for America’s families by consolidating the many complicated programs to create a monthly cash benefit for them, without increasing the deficit.”
Romney’s office estimated that the proposal could reduce child poverty by 33% and make marriage more attractive.
Although it cost billions more than the current Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit programs, Romney’s plan would make up for the increase by cutting billions in current exemptions, including deductions for head of household status, child care credits and dependents and state and local tax deduction.
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Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project, a progressive think tank, called Romney’s proposal an improvement over President Biden’s own family spending plan – but less than his own. In particular, he questioned Romney’s plan to eliminate state and local tax deductions – a program popular with Americans who pay high state taxes.