U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is proposing that the federal government provide an average of $3,000 per year for most households through an initiative that he says would dramatically reduce child poverty and pay for itself through cost savings brought about by the consolidation of other programs.
A document posted on Romney’s Senate website states that the plan, if implemented, would cut child poverty by one-third, support children and women in the last months of pregnancy, “promote marriage” and “(provide) equal treatment for both working and stay-at-home parents.”
To illustrate what Romney has dubbed the “Family Security Act,” his office states in the document that a family of four with a household income of $38,990 that usually received a tax refund of $7,041 would instead receive more than $9,000 from the government – three-quarters of it through monthly installments.
The description on Romney’s Senate site states, in part: “If enacted, low-income families would no longer have to choose between a bigger paycheck or eligibility for support. This plan would immediately lift nearly three million children out of poverty, while providing a bridge to the middle class – without adding a dime to the federal deficit.”
Romney’s proposal comes as President Joe Biden’s administration and lawmakers from both major parties in Congress hash out what is likely to be a new installment of federal COVID-19 relief. So far, Democrats in the House and Senate have refrained from advancing any measure without some Republican support.
A sticking point has been whether the level of debt required to fund relief packages of the size Biden is seeking is justified by the economic benefit those packages confer.
Various analyses published in recent weeks have concluded that the national economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, is likely to recover to pre-COVID-19 levels sometime in 2021.
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