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- President Joe Biden released his budget for fiscal year 2024 on Thursday, outlining his priorities.
- One noticeable item: Bringing back and making permanent monthly checks to parents.
- The first iteration of expanded child tax credit checks lifted millions of kids out of poverty.
President Joe Biden's funding wish list is out — and it has some good news for parents.
On Thursday, Biden unveiled his budget proposal for fiscal year 2024, which outlines his investment priorities in every federal agency for the upcoming year. It aims to cut the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over ten years, and it includes a revival of his previous tax proposals, like a minimum billionaires tax and higher corporate tax — as well as the restoration of the expanded Child Tax Credit.
Biden's American Rescue Plan gave $3,000 per child to families with children over the age of six, and $3,600 per child to families with children under the age of six. The ARP also paid out the tax credit in monthly checks, rather than as part of an annual tax refund.
However, the expansion of that credit expired in December 2021 due to Republican opposition and pushback from conservative Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin. Now the president wants to restore the program fully.
"This president clearly believes that the way to grow this economy is invest in the middle class and working families, and that we have to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out," Shalanda Young, director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, said.
The child tax credit proved to be formidable in its goal of reducing poverty, feeding 2 million children and keeping 3 million total children out of poverty in just the first month of the credit's existence. According to the US Census Bureau, child poverty fell to a record low of 5.2% in 2021, declining from 2020's 9.7% rate because of those monthly checks sent out to parents.
In total, according to the US Census Bureau, the child tax credit expansion lifted 2.9 million children out of poverty, with 1 million of those children under the age of six. Maggie Lopez, a single mother in Texas, previously told Insider that the checks meant some breathing room for her and her newborn.
"That kind of safety net coming in helped me with costs for my daughters, and just also catching up on some bills or paying off some of the debt that I hadn't been able to pay off before," Lopez said.
However, after efforts to expand or prolong the credit fell short, child poverty skyrocketed in 2022. Now, the Biden administration wants to turn that around.
"When you look at this president's view of the world and what this budget put forward, it shows you what he values. That's what this is going to be about," Young said.
Several Democratic lawmakers have also pushed for the expanded Child Tax Credit to be renewed. Late last year, some senators were eyeing an extension of the credit in a year-end legislative package, with Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado — an architect of the ARP's expanded credit — telling Insider at the time that "I think we should not be extending tax cuts for American corporations if we're not going to extend tax cuts for American children."
Still, Biden's budget proposal is just that — a proposal. With Republicans holding a majority in the House, it's unlikely the president's requests will be approved, but it does reflect issues the administration wants to prioritize as it nears the end of its first term.
It also comes as GOP lawmakers are eyeing a deal to raise the debt ceiling, and keep the US on top of paying its bills, but they have yet to produce a specific plan for doing so as the country inches closer to a catastrophic default.
"As the President has made clear, they owe the American people a detailed accounting of exactly what they plan to cut in order to cover the costs of their proposals, while also achieving the kinds of fiscal targets that they claim to support," the White House budget fact sheet said.
"Until they produce a plan," it added, "we're left to rely on a wide array of Republican budgets, statements, and proposals—past and present—which provide clear and consistent evidence that many critical programs the American people count on will be on the chopping block."