Matt Weidinger and Katharine Stevens offer members of Congress an idea that would help families without hurting Uncle Sam’s bottom line.
Congress delivered a big win for families in last year’s reconciliation law. By raising the Child Tax Credit to $2,200 per child and indexing it to inflation, lawmakers committed up to $37,400 in taxpayer support over the first 17 years of a child’s life. Now, in “Reconciliation 2.0,” they can take an even more important step: Fix the CTC’s timing so working parents can choose when to use that support.
The CTC is one of Washington’s best tools for supporting working families. But today, that lifetime amount of $37,400 arrives in $2,200 installments, parceled out equally over 17 years. For parents of a 15-year-old, an extra $2,200 is a welcome boost. For parents of a newborn — struggling to cover childbirth costs, stay home with a baby, pay for quality child care, and make ends meet on early-career earnings — the same $2,200 barely makes a dent.
The economic burden is front-loaded. The support is not. And that mismatch costs families and children the most when they can least afford it.
Young parents are at the start of their earning years, with lower income, fewer savings, and less access to credit. Over half of new mothers return to work within three months of giving birth — many not by choice, but because they can’t afford to stay home. Child care for an infant now exceeds the cost of in-state college tuition in most states. And decades of research confirm a truth parents have long known: a child’s earliest years matter most for healthy development. Yet the resources families most need arrive years too late.
Congress can and should fix this. Not with a massive new spending program, but with something far simpler: letting parents decide when to use benefits taxpayers already provide.
