Senator Romney’s Family Security Act promises to help the working American family

WASHINGTON — Sen. Romney is retiring from the Senate in January, but with his last few months in office he is trying to pass the Family Security Act. 

The plan is another version of a child tax credit plan that Sen. Romney has been working on for the past couple of years. And it’s designed to support working class families with children.

The plan has a lot of elements that could be the financial boost families have been looking for. 

The monthly option

One part of the plan is the monthly payment option. Usually you get one lump sum of child tax credit during tax season. But with the Family Security Act, families can receive advanced monthly payments. Even pregnant mothers can receive advanced payments starting at 20 weeks. 

Patrick T. Brown, a fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center, said it’s very much like during the pandemic. 

“It pops up in your bank account. You’re able to use that to pay for gas or groceries or whatever the cost of living hits you with,” said Brown.

Consolidate and simplify 

If you’ve done your own family taxes, you may know that there’s a few different child-related benefits. But they can also conflict and be very confusing to navigate. 

“What Sen. Romney’s bill would do is basically collapse all that and just say, ‘Look, here’s a straightforward benefit per child that’s $3,000 for kids who are school-aged [and] $4,200 for kids who are under five to kind of give parents a little boost with the cost of child care,'” said Brown. 

Neutral federal deficit

Both Democrats and Republicans have in interested in raising the child tax credit, but this plan has something unique. It purposes a neutral federal deficit. Brown said it’s a pretty clever plan. 

“Looking prospectively, you can identify some of the areas where the tax code is going to change and… basically consolidate some of these changes that are happening.” 

Brown also said that the child tax credit could expand by looking at state and local tax deduction for a very high income states.

“You’re able to kind of piece together a jigsaw puzzle of ways to make sure that you’re able to provide direct support for families, while not sticking with the bill of higher inflation later on down the road.”

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