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Senate Passes Expanded Child Tax Credit with New SSN Eligibility Rule

Permanently raising the credit to $2,200 with inflation indexing creates eligibility hurdles for mixed-status, low-income families

Stock image/file photo: A child's hands touching several U.S. Dollar bills.
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Overview

  • The Senate approved its spending bill 51–50 on July 1 to permanently raise the child tax credit to $2,200 per child starting in 2025 with annual inflation adjustments.
  • House Republicans have backed a separate proposal boosting the credit to $2,500 through 2028 before reverting to $2,000, setting up a reconciliation showdown between the chambers.
  • A new provision requires children and both parents to hold valid Social Security numbers, threatening to disqualify about 875,000 U.S. citizen children in Texas and more than 1.3 million in California, Florida and New York.
  • Because the refundable portion of the credit remains unchanged, an estimated 17 million children in very low-income households still cannot access the full benefit.
  • Lawmakers now face a fast-approaching deadline to reconcile differing credit amounts, sunset provisions and eligibility criteria before sending a final bill to the president.