GETTING THE INITIAL PLAN IN PLACE WILL MAKE IT EASIER TO RAMP UP:

On Sunday, Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) announced a bipartisan plan to do something pretty extraordinary: establish a basic income for children in the United States.

The plan is relatively modest. Parents would get a guaranteed $1,500 in cash every year per child under the age of 7, no matter their income, and $1,000 per child aged 7 to 17. Another $1,000 in benefits per child, regardless of age, would phase in with income, as occurs under the Child Tax Credit already in the federal tax code. [...]

While the proposal hasn't been formally analyzed yet for its impact on poverty, analysis of earlier, more generous proposals by Bennet and allies for a universal child allowance suggests this plan would reduce child poverty by millions of children, and make it less severe for millions more. A recent National Academy of Sciences report on child poverty found that an American child allowance would be an evidence-based, high-impact way to cut the child poverty rate.

Tweet   @brothersjudd