The White House stated that President Joe Biden’s Administration is considering the option of giving double payments of the child tax credits in February, with the sine qua non condition of the passage of the Build Back Better social spending policy agenda this January.
The passage of the $1.75 trillion Social Spending bill is still in dispute within the Democratic Party itself. The only Democratic senator – and that’s enough to put passage in great jeopardy – who opposes the Build Back Better plan as written is Joe Manchin (West Virginia), who has said publicly that he will not vote for the bill.
With that obstacle, the vote on the Senate floor continues to be postponed. Upper House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had planned to hold the referendum before Christmas, but failed to follow through.
With immigration reform that would give deportation pardons and work permits to millions of undocumented immigrants failing, the last thing left for Democrats to salvage is more social programs, such as the child tax credit.
Last payment of the child tax credit
Due to the failure to pass the Build Back Better before Christmas, the last payment of the extended child tax credit was given on December 15, so families who had benefited from the extension will no longer receive it in January.
To clarify, the child tax credit already existed. What Biden did was to extend it. Previously, parents were allowed to claim up to $2,000 for each eligible child under age 17. For the 2017 tax return, parents could claim up to $3,000 for each child ages six to 17 and $3,600 for children under six.
Because parents will not receive advance payments of the child tax credit in January, White House press secretary Jen Paski reported in December that a duplicate payment is being considered for February, which would contain the January payment and the February payment.