Representative Angie Craig and Senator Tina Smith Call on Congressional Leaders to Include Expanded Definition of Dependent Children in Upcoming COVID Relief Package
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, U.S. Representative Angie Craig and U.S. Senator Tina Smith called on Congressional leadership to broaden the definition of a qualifying dependent in the upcoming COVID-19 relief package, arguing that a failure to do so would prevent many families from receiving the benefits to which they are entitled. In previous relief bills signed into law, many children, including dependents over the age of 16 and full time students claimed as dependents, were excluded from receiving direct payments from the federal government.
In a letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Craig and Smith urged leadership to expand the definition to include children younger than 19, college students below the age of 24, disabled adults and qualified relatives.
"We write imploring you to broaden the definition of a qualifying dependent for purposes of additional stimulus assistance through whatever legislative mechanism is necessary to ensure this long-overdue relief becomes law," Craig and Smith wrote. "While the CASH Act and the Heroes Acts passed by the House provided for an expanded definition of dependent, former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell failed to take action on these relief proposals, leaving millions of families hurting."
"As Minnesotans continue to face an unprecedented health and economic crisis due to COVID-19, we are committed to helping all of our constituents get the assistance they deserve and look forward to working with you on this matter moving forward," the members continued.
In the 116th Congress, Representative Craig led her colleagues in introducing bipartisan legislation to broaden the definition of dependents. While the expanded definition was included in three pieces of legislation passed by the House of Representatives, the United States Senate never took up those proposals, leaving millions of families without access to the relief they deserve. Representative Craig and Senator Smith plan to reintroduce legislation expanding the definition in the days to come – and will continue to pressure Congressional leaders to address this oversight in upcoming negotiations.
A full copy of the letter is available
and copied below:
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Schumer, Republican Leader McCarthy, and Republican Leader McConnell,
We write imploring you to broaden the definition of a qualifying dependent for purposes of additional stimulus assistance through whatever legislative mechanism is necessary to ensure this long-overdue relief becomes law.
While the CASH Act and the Heroes Acts passed by the House provided for an expanded definition of dependent, former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell failed to take action on these relief proposals, leaving millions of families hurting. The legislative language in these bills closely mirrored proposals we previously authored (S.3652/H.R.6420) and are planning to reintroduce shortly.
We are encouraged that our proposals closely align with President Biden's proposal for additional stimulus payment in his American Rescue Plan. As you know, prior rounds of economic impact payments have limited economic impact payments to children age 16 and below, rather than to all dependents. This has left nearly 15 million dependents unable to receive economic impact payments. To resolve this striking inequity, we urge you to include all dependents in economic payments proposals, rather than retaining the flawed structure of past stimulus payments that has excluded so many Americans who are struggling to get by.
Expanding the dependent definition will be helpful to people with disabilities and their families and would ensure that both qualifying children and qualifying relatives (as defined in section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code) will receive the payments. This broader definition would ensure that people with disabilities who do not reside with their families, but are claimed as dependents, would be eligible for the credit as well.
As Minnesotans continue to face an unprecedented health and economic crisis due to COVID-19, we are committed to helping all of our constituents get the assistance they deserve and look forward to working with you on this matter moving forward.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.