Speeding benefits for new parents

Partisan disagreements leave uncertain what form a new stimulus package might take from Washington–whether there will be more relief checks or tax cuts, or both.  But South Carolina Republican Tim Scott says he and at least two Democratic colleagues are behind a proposal to ensure more new parents quickly receive the additional $500 a child benefit from the CARES Act.  Scott and Democrats Duckworth and Klobuchar are co-sponsoring payments to new parents without the parents having to wait until 2021.  Currently, parents of children born on or after January 1, 2020 must wait until they file taxes in calendar year 2021 to receive those payments due to eligibility for the additional $500 a child being based on existing Child Tax Credit rules.  The Scott-backed bill would waive existing rules and require the IRS to develop a system to provide payments to families with newborns once a Social Security number is assigned to the child.  According to a study from earlier this year, more than 98% of American women pay some type of out-of-pocket cost for delivering a child.  New moms can see the average out-of-pocket cost for delivery rise above $4,000 and that does not include the supplies that families need at home, such as clothes, diapers and car seats.