Back in the United States, the IRS has begun monthly payments to the families of nearly 60 million children — averaging out to $483 per family per month. The payments are an advance on a temporary increase in the child tax credit, as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed by President Biden in March. At the White House, Biden hailed the payments as the biggest new government benefit since Social Security.

President Joe Biden: “For every child under the age of 6, a parent will get $3,600 a year. For every child 6 to 17, they’ll get $3,000 per year. … And to give you a sense of how transformative this is, this would be the largest-ever one-year decrease in child poverty in the history of the United States of America.” 

The payments are set to expire at the end of the year, unless Congress takes action to extend the larger child tax credit beyond 2021.