American Family Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The American Family Act redesigns the child tax credit as a monthly, refundable family benefit. It creates section 24A with a monthly specified child allowance of $300 for each specified child age 6 through 17 and 120 percent of that amount for children under 6, subject to income phaseouts beginning at $150,000 for joint filers, $112,500 for other filers, and a second phaseout tier beginning at $400,000 for joint filers and $300,000 for other filers. It defines specified children by monthly residence, care, age, relationship, citizenship, TIN, and tie-breaker rules; indexes amounts after 2025; applies to Puerto Rico and possessions; creates fraud and reckless-disregard disallowance periods; adds a $500 section 24B credit for certain other dependents; and creates section 7527A monthly advance payments, portal updates, notices, presumptive eligibility, overpayment rules, and protection of payments from garnishment.
Who Benefits and How
Families with children benefit because the credit becomes monthly, refundable, and larger for young children. Caregivers of children under 6 benefit because the monthly allowance is 120 percent of the $300 amount. Puerto Rico families benefit because the bill applies the monthly child allowance and advance-payment framework to residents of Puerto Rico. Low-income households benefit because refundability and monthly payment rules deliver support even when annual income-tax liability is low.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Internal Revenue Service must build monthly payment, eligibility, portal, notice, overpayment, and fraud-control systems. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of larger refundable credits and advance monthly payments. High-income households face phaseouts that reduce or eliminate the new monthly allowance. Garnishing creditors are restricted because applicable monthly child payments are protected through account-review rules.
Key Provisions
- Creates a refundable monthly child allowance of $300 for children age 6 through 17 and 120 percent of that amount for children under 6.
- Adds income phaseouts beginning at $150,000 for joint filers and $112,500 for other filers, with a second phaseout tier above $400,000 or $300,000.
- Establishes monthly advance payments, portal updates, notices, presumptive eligibility, and overpayment rules in section 7527A.
- Adds a separate $500 credit for certain other dependents.
- Protects applicable child payments from garnishment and creates fraud or reckless-disregard disallowance periods.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a refundable monthly child tax credit of $300 per child age 6 through 17 and 120 percent of that amount for children under 6, adds a $500 credit for certain other dependents, and directs Treasury to make monthly advance child payments with eligibility, portal, notice, anti-fraud, and garnishment-protection rules.
Key Policy Areas
Tax, Families, Anti-Poverty
Primary Purpose
Creates a refundable monthly child tax credit of $300 per child age 6 through 17 and 120 percent of that amount for children under 6, adds a $500 credit for certain other dependents, and directs Treasury to make monthly advance child payments with eligibility, portal, notice, anti-fraud, and garnishment-protection rules.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Families with children
- Caregivers of children under 6
- Puerto Rico families
- Low-income households
Identified Costs
- Internal Revenue Service
- Federal taxpayers
- High-income households
- Garnishing creditors
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. DeLauro (for herself, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Torres of New …
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Families with children, Puerto Rico families, Taxpayers
Positive-direction: Families with children, Puerto Rico families
Negative-direction: Taxpayers
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology