U.S. Census officials report that their research has shown that 35 percent of American families with children struggle to cope with food and housing expenses without some form of federal financial assistance.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has unveiled an ambitious plan to provide greater financial security for American families by streamlining existing federal policies to create one universal child benefit.
Utah’s junior senator calls the proposal the Family Security Act. He says that plan would create a new national commitment to American families by modernizing antiquated federal programs into a monthly cash benefit.
The Family Security Act would replace the federal Child Tax Credit, which expired in December of 2021, with a monthly cash benefit amounting to $350 for each young child and $250 for each school-age child.
“We have not comprehensively reformed our family support system in nearly three decades and our changing economy has left millions of families behind,” Romney explained.
“Now is the time to renew our commitment to families to help them meet the challenges they face as they take on the most important work any of us will every do – raising our society’s children.”
From July to December 2021, more than 36 million American families qualified for monthly payments from the Internal Revenue Service under the Biden administration’s Child Tax Credit program.
Those credits amounted to payments of $300 for each child 5 and under, plus $250 for children aged 6 to 17.
According to the U.S. Census’ experimental Household Pulse Survey, about 30 percent of U.S. households with children reported having difficulty making ends meet for food and housing expenses even during the months of August to December of 2021, when they were receiving the CTC payments.
Since those payments ended with the New Year, the number of families struggling to handle those expenses has risen to 35 percent.
Romney’s staff members insist that his plan would ensure that parents expecting a child receive the help they need to face expenses associated with preparing for an addition to their families. Low-income families would also no longer have to choose between a bigger paycheck or maintaining eligibility for federal assistance.
Expectant parents would be eligible to receive the cash benefit four months prior to their child’s due date and it would continue to be administered on a monthly basis.
The plan would immediately lift nearly 3 million children out of poverty, while providing a bridge to the middle class.
Romney added that the Family Security Act wouldn’t add a dime to the federal deficit, because the programs’ funds would be reallocated from other government programs.
“This proposal offers a path toward greater security for America’s families by consolidating the many complicated programs to create a monthly cash benefit for them,” Romney emphasized.
Other benefits of the Family Security Act, according to the senator’s staff members, include establishing a firm national commitment to all of America’s families; cutting child poverty by up to one-third in America; supporting families from pregnancy through childhood; promoting marriage; providing equal treatment for both working and stay-at-home parents; and reforming and consolidating outmoded federal programs to fully pay for the new proposal.