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The bill shifts federal support from the Child Tax Credit into direct monthly payments for pregnant people and caregivers (with added oversight), trading more targeted, recurring cash help for families and increased administrative costs, privacy and design risks, and higher taxes or reduced benefits for families who relied on the Child Tax Credit.
Pregnant people and caregivers receive new recurring cash support: pregnant people get $800/month beginning at 20 weeks and caregivers get $400/month per child under 6 and $250/month per child 6+, with a 20% boost for married beneficiaries (increases near-term income and child poverty relief).
The program includes continuity protections (payments won't be cut off for up to 90 days after birth while applications are processed) and creates reporting plus a Bureau of Family Statistics to monitor payment delivery and processing times (improves benefit reliability and government oversight).
Repealing Child Tax Credit cross-references and related rules simplifies certain aspects of the tax code and could reduce IRS/Treasury administrative complexity tied to the old credit.
Parents and families lose the Child Tax Credit, which increases federal tax liability and reduces after-tax income and monthly cash flow for many households—especially low- and moderate-income families with children.
Monthly benefit amounts phase out dollar-for-dollar above income thresholds, creating very high effective marginal tax rates for households near cutoffs and potentially discouraging work or creating sharp income cliffs.
The program relies on open-ended federal spending/appropriations, which could lead to higher taxes, increased federal deficits, or reallocations of funds from other programs to cover ongoing costs.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates monthly pregnancy and caregiver payments and repeals the federal Child Tax Credit, shifting child tax support into a monthly supplement.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Jared Golden · Last progress February 13, 2025
Creates a new monthly family income supplement administered by the Social Security Administration that pays pregnant women and caregivers of children a regular cash benefit, and repeals the federal Child Tax Credit in the tax code. Payments are $800 per month for the pregnancy, $400 per month for each child under age 6, and $250 per month for each child age 6 and older; a 20% marriage bonus increases combined household payments. Benefits phase down above an adjusted gross income threshold starting at $125,000 and are unavailable to applicants with an unresolved fraud finding. Applicants must provide identity, SSN/TIN, address, prior-year income, marital status, and pregnancy details; the program defines eligible children and qualified caregivers, sets entitlement rules tied to pregnancy stage and post-birth caregiving, and directs multiple conforming amendments to the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the Child Tax Credit. The tax-code repeal becomes effective tied to the start month of the new payment program; the Child Tax Credit is prorated for the taxpayer’s first transitional year.