# Plain Language Summary: Providing for Life Act

This bill is designed to provide financial support and assistance to families, with a particular focus on pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing. It makes several changes to tax benefits and creates new programs aimed at helping pregnant women, parents, and families with children.

The bill's biggest financial change involves expanding the child tax credit—money that parents can claim on their taxes. Currently, families get $2,000 per child. This bill would increase that to $3,500 per child, or $4,500 for children under age 6. The bill also makes this credit "refundable," which means families who don't owe taxes can still receive the money as a refund. Additionally, the bill includes a controversial provision that would allow parents to claim a tax credit for unborn children starting the year before they're born, as long as a Social Security number is obtained before the tax return is filed.

Beyond tax credits, the bill creates several new support programs. It establishes grants for community-based maternal mentoring programs to help pregnant women and new mothers. It requires schools to provide accommodations and resources for pregnant students so they can continue their education. The bill also reforms the WIC program (which provides nutrition assistance to pregnant women and families with young children) and creates funding for pregnancy resource centers. Additionally, it requires biological fathers to contribute to medical expenses during pregnancy and delivery, and it creates workforce development programs to help non-custodial parents find employment so they can pay child support.

The bill also makes changes to child support enforcement and requires cooperation with child support agencies as a condition for receiving certain government benefits. It includes provisions to ensure religious organizations aren't discriminated against when providing social services, and it requires awareness campaigns to inform pregnant women about available resources and support options.

Providing for Life Act

Hinson, Ashley

Providing for Life Act This bill revises various programs and supports for families and children related to taxes, health, and other benefits. First, the bill increases the child tax credit to a maximum of $3,500 per child ($4,500 per child under the age of six) and makes permanent the increased income threshold over which the credit phases out. The bill further eliminates the federal deduction for certain state and local taxes (SALT deduction) and makes the adoption tax credit refundable. The bill allows parents to use a portion of their Social Security benefits for up to three months of paid parental leave after the birth or adoption of a child. Additionally, the bill requires Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to cooperate with states in establishing child support orders. It also provides additional workforce training for noncustodial parents with child support obligations. States must establish requirements for the biological father of a child to pay, at the mother's request, at least 50% of reasonable out-of-pocket medical expenses associated with the mother's pregnancy and delivery. The bill requires institutions of higher education to provide students with certain information about the resources and services (excluding abortion services) available to pregnant students. Additionally, the bill <ul> <li>provides grants for community-based maternal mentoring programs and for pregnancy resource centers that do not provide abortions;</li> <li>requires the Department of Health and Human Services to publish a website with specified pregnancy-related information; and</li> <li>extends from one to two years the postpartum benefit eligibility period under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).</li> </ul>