Sponsor
Jared Golden
Representative · D-ME
Representative · D-ME
The bill shifts support toward monthly prenatal and child payments and creates oversight structures—boosting direct cash support for enrolled families—while eliminating the Child Tax Credit and introducing sharp phaseouts, privacy risks, and added fiscal cost, forcing a trade-off between targeted monthly aid and broader tax-based support plus budgetary and administrative consequences.
Pregnant people and caregivers of children will receive regular monthly cash payments (pregnancy benefit of $800/month starting at 20 weeks; caregivers $400/month for children under 6 and $250/month for children 6+), providing direct income support and reducing child poverty for enrolled families.
Parents and families will have continuity of payments after birth for up to 90 days while applications are processed, preventing short-term interruptions in cash flow during the postpartum period.
Two-parent/married households will receive a 20% higher benefit amount, increasing support for many middle-class and two-parent families.
Millions of parents and families will lose the Child Tax Credit, reducing after-tax income and increasing federal tax liabilities for many households that previously relied on that credit.
Households with incomes near the eligibility cutoffs face a sharp dollar-for-dollar benefit phaseout, creating very high effective marginal tax rates and potentially discouraging work or creating financial cliffs.
The new benefit program increases federal spending through open-ended appropriations, which could require higher taxes, greater deficits, or reallocation of funds from other programs.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates monthly pregnancy and child caregiver payments (FISC) and repeals the Child Tax Credit, with income-based phaseout beginning at $125,000 AGI.
Official title: To provide monthly payments for eligible pregnant women and parents to improve the ability of families to provide for their children and other family members, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Jared Golden · Last progress February 13, 2025
Creates a new monthly Family Income Supplemental Credit (FISC) program that pays pregnant women and caregivers monthly cash supplements and repeals the existing Child Tax Credit from the Internal Revenue Code. Payments are $800/month for a pregnancy (once 20 weeks), $400/month for each child under 6, and $250/month for each child 6 or older, with a 20% marriage bonus and a dollar-for-dollar phaseout above specified adjusted gross income thresholds; the Child Tax Credit is removed with a prorated repeal for the first affected tax year.