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US government launched the federal aid programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, up to $300 per child going directly into the bank accounts of families on the 15th of every month. The last checks will go out on Wednesday, the expanded child tax credit program expiring unless Congress revives it for 2022. That appears highly uncertain as lawmakers try to push President Joe Biden’s roughly $2 trillion social and environmental bill into law. The swift launch and potentially quick end, to the bolstered child tax credit highlights the risks of enacting sweeping social policy changes in a politically divisive environment. President Biden and Democrats on Capitol Hill might not have been praised by voters for adding the new benefit, but they almost surely will be blamed if the money abruptly stops flowing next month. Rep. Suzan DelBene said, “We need to keep them going. Families deserve that predictability and certainty”.

The child tax credit wasn’t new when Democrats altered the program as part of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill shortly after he took office in January. But it has rarely provided the boost to families seen with this year’s changes. American taxpayers have been afforded a tax break for their children for more than 20 years. It was started as a $500 per child write-off under Bill Clinton in 1997 and changed over time and was beefed up under Donald Trump’s GOP tax cuts in 2017. President Biden’s American Rescue Plan increased the credit to $3,000 a year, added 17-year-olds, and boosted the amount to $3,600 for children under six years old. It gave the credit to millions of families with low or no income, even if they didn’t earn enough money to pay income taxes or pay enough tax to qualify for the refund.

Studies have suggested that the child tax credit expansions are expected to cut child poverty by 40%, with 9 of 10 American children benefiting. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said at least 4.1 million children are on track to be lifted above the poverty line. The first checks started arriving in July; about one-third of recipient families used the money during the first few months to pay down outstanding debt, along with paying for school supplies and child care. Families in New Mexico spent nearly 46% of their child tax credit money on food. Republicans are fully opposed to Biden’s larger policy bill, which would extend the tax credit, arguing the overall health, education, and climate change package is too big and costly at a time of rising inflation.