Kyrsten Sinema seeks cash aid for new parents

New parents could receive a cash advance worth up to $5,000 per child with repayment to Uncle Sam over a decade under a bipartisan proposal co-authored by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

Sinema, D-Ariz., introduced a bill Tuesday intended to help defray costs for those with newborns, or newly adopted children, at the time they need it most: at the beginning.

Sinema, working with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., wants to allow families to claim up to $5,000 for a child tax credit up front. Families would repay the government over 10 years by reducing their child tax credit in future years.

The child tax credit is currently worth up to $2,000 per child. Eligible families who take the advance would qualify for up to $1,500 in future years, effectively repaying $500 each year, under the Cassidy-Sinema plan.

Low-income families would qualify for smaller cash advances that would be paid off over 15 years of smaller tax credits. Someone earning $11 an hour, for example, could receive a cash advance for $2,640, but only have her future tax credits reduced by $176 instead of $500, according to estimates by Sinema’s office.

The interest-free loan is a bipartisan attempt, from Sinema, a former social worker, and Cassidy, a physician, to help working families in a way that has little cost to the government. It is an issue of special concern to Sinema, who grew up poor in a family with divorced parents.

“My family struggled. We had hard times growing up, and for my mom, it was tough to take care of us kids for a bit after my parents got divorced,” she said. “I know how hard it is for everyday families . ... The idea behind this legislation is to ease that burden so they have funds available in that first year.”

By working with Cassidy in the GOP-controlled Senate, Sinema hopes the measure will get serious consideration from Republicans and Democrats alike on an issue where common ground may be possible.

Sinema said one feature of their proposal is that it doesn’t create a new entitlement program that would give deficit hawks heartburn. It also doesn’t affect payroll taxes or take from Social Security, she said.

Instead, the plan is optional and leaves room for other ideas on child tax credits, child care or other reforms.

It is intended to be the kind of plan that provides financial breathing room for new parents such as Glendale residents Maureen and Joey Hagan.

New son brings new bills

Their 4-month-old son, Bentley, brings the couple joy and newfound financial stress.

The Hagans, both of whom are 28, say they are fine — they pay each bill as it comes in — but they acknowledge their cushion is thin. The couple is still paying medical bills from Benny’s birth.

Joey Hagan, who works as an assistant manager at QuikTrip, is docked $50 from his weekly paycheck for six months to cover the week off he took when Benny was born.

“We pretty much depleted our savings to get the house, and we did the same thing for our wedding, and now it’s hard to put anything into it,” Joey Hagan said.

That means the couple can’t afford child care or time off from work.

Maureen Hagan scraped together 12 weeks of vacation and sick days from her job as manager of at a home-visitation program that works with families to prevent child abuse so she could stay home with Benny after he was born. But she’s back at work now.

For now, the Hagans work opposite schedules and get child care help from Maureen’s recently retired mother, whom they pay for her time.

“We’re like ships passing,” Maureen Hagan said of their schedules. “But child care is almost like a second mortgage.”

The average cost of infant care in Arizona is $10,687, which is only $531 less than in-state tuition at a public university, Sinema said. Subscribe to our free political podcast, The Gaggle.