A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that would give parents up to $6,000 per child in expanded tax credits.
It’s part of a wider piece of legislation called the Affordable Childcare Act, led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., on the right and Sharice Davids, D-Kan., and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., on the left.
Both the Republican and Democratic campaigns had called for an expanded child tax credit during the 2024 presidential race, where both sides attempted to make inroads with families struggling to afford care.
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The current child tax credit levels give parents a refund of up to $2,000 for dependents under age 17. Adults with incomes that exceed $200,000 as a single filer or $400,000 for married couples can still be eligible for a partial credit.
The bipartisan bill would raise the maximum threshold to $6,000 for one dependent and $12,000 for two or more.
It would also double the tax credit for businesses that facilitate childcare for employees, raising the amount to $300,000 per year for qualifying workplaces.
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During the most recent White House campaign, now-Vice President JD Vance and then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was running for the top of the ticket, called for a $5,000 and $6,000 child tax credit, respectively.
But it’s not certain Congress will find an appetite to work together on such a bill now, given bitter divisions over the government funding process and President Donald Trump’s crackdown on government spending.
Republicans are also working on a larger tax package that they’re aiming to pass with only GOP votes via the budget reconciliation process.
Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which Republicans are hoping to extend with reconciliation, raised the maximum child tax credit from $1,000 at the time to $2,000.
If Congress fails to extend Trump’s tax cuts by the end of 2025, the original parameters would be back in place.
The maximum was briefly raised to $3,000 for children ages 6 to 16 and $3,600 for children ages 0 to 5 to help families cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, but those rates were not extended.
