Democrats in the House hope to extend the enhanced child tax credit through 2025 and make it permanent after that, according to a new tax plan lawmakers released this week.

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The proposal would extend, then make permanent, the monthly payments that are set to expire at the end of the year.

“I do believe that our budget should be a reflection – a national budget should be a reflection of our national values,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said last week. “What’s important to us, as a nation, should be reflected there. Hence, we proudly make the fight for the children.”

The tax credits were approved on a temporary basis as part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed in March.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, opposes the bill in its current form.

“As I read the bill now, I could not support it,” McCarthy recently said in an interview with Fox Business Network. “I have a great frustration with this bill.”

The monthly payments make up half the total credit. The rest of the tax credit can be claimed in the 2021 tax return.

The credit is available for couples with children up to age 17 who make less than $150,000 a year, or single adults making less than $112,500.

Monthly payments of up to $300 per child for children younger than age 6 and $250 per child for those ages 6-17 began in July.

The money for the extension of the tax credits would fall under the $3.5 trillion spending bill Democrats are hoping to get passed this fall.

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