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Providing for Life Act
This week I introduced the Providing for Life Act, a comprehensive package that charts the policy course for a culture of life in America. By expanding the Child Tax Credit to include the unborn and provide additional relief to working families, empowering women to care for their babies and families regardless of socioeconomic status or zip code, and expanding access to community resources, we can protect the most vulnerable, make a meaningful difference for those in need, and strengthen all families.
Here's a breakdown of what's in the bill:
Provides tax breaks to working families:
- Expands the refundable Child Tax Credit (CTC) to up to $3,500 for children under the age of 18, and $4500 per child under the age of 6
- Expands the CTC to provide support for unborn babies (because providing for your baby starts the second you find out you're pregnant!)
- Makes the Adoption Tax Credit fully refundable
Supports new parents:
- Enhancing paid parental leave and giving parents options and flexibility
- Expands nutritional assistance for postpartum women and their babies
- Enacts multi-tiered child support reform
- Mandates cooperation with child support for SNAP recipients
- Incentivizes states to establish rules requiring the father to cover half of women’s pregnancy costs
- Re-routes $100 million from the TANF contingency fund for grants to states for work activities for non-custodial parents under child support orders, so fathers are empowered to support their own families
Empowers women and protects their babies:
- Ensures pregnant women know their rights and protections on college campuses, empowering women to choose life while continuing their education
- Establishes a federal clearinghouse of resources available to pregnant mothers and supports the Maternal Mental Health Hotline through a new website called life.gov
- Ensures Title X funding is made available to pregnancy resource centers
Builds community support for mothers and new families:
- Funds local demonstration programs providing volunteer mentoring and peer support services for low-income, vulnerable mothers
- Expands and codifies vital protections for faith-based organizations providing federally funded social services
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