Romney bill would pay up to $350 a month per child

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today announced a framework that he says will provide greater financial security for American families by streamlining existing family policies to create one universal child benefit.

The Family Security Act would create a monthly cash benefit amounting to $350 a month for each young child, and $250 a month for each school-aged child.

Romney feels that the proposal would ensure that expecting parents receive the help they need to face expenses associated with preparing for a child, and low-income families would no longer have to choose between a bigger paycheck or maintaining eligibility for support.

Parents would be eligible to receive the cash benefit 4 months prior to their child’s due date, and it would continue to be administered on a monthly basis. Romney says that the plan would immediately lift nearly 3 million children out of poverty, while providing a bridge to the middle class – without adding a dime to the federal deficit.

“American families are facing greater financial strain, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and marriage and birth rates are at an all-time low,” Senator Romney said. “On top of that, we have not comprehensively reformed our family support system in nearly three decades, and our changing economy has left millions of families behind. Now is the time to renew our commitment to families to help them meet the challenges they face as they take on most important work any of us will ever do—raising our society’s children. This proposal offers a path toward greater security for America’s families by consolidating the many complicated programs to create a monthly cash benefit for them, without adding to the deficit.”

In a release, Romney states that he is hoping the proposal will:

• Establish a firm national commitment to all of America’s families;
• Cut child poverty by up to one-third in America;
• Support families from pregnancy through childhood;
• Promote marriage;
• Provide equal treatment for both working and stay-at-home parents; and
• Reform and consolidate outmoded federal programs to fully pay for the new proposal.