SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah,  has proposed a new plan that would send monthly cash to families during the pandemic. The plan would give American families $350 a month for each child under 5 years old and $250 for each child up to age 17. 

The Family Security Act aims to simplify existing federal family policies to create one universal child benefit. It would consolidate the state and local tax credits and the temporary assistance program for needy families.

In doing so, this creates a monthly cash payment for families without adding to the deficit, according to Romney.

“American families are facing greater financial strain, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and marriage and birth rates are at an all-time low,” Romney said in a statement.

“On top of that, we have not comprehensively reformed our family support system in nearly three decades, and our changing economy has left millions of families behind,” he said.

“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 ever do — raising our society’s children.”

The Family Security Act would cap American households at $1,250 a month.

Romney stated in the plan, “in order to remain deficit-neutral and provide certainty for families, it also eliminates the State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT), which is an inefficient tax break to upper-income taxpayers.”