The President's massive spending plan that is currently before Congress could extend the expanded child tax credit through the end of next year. This means eligible parents and guardians could continue to receive monthly checks through 2022.

On a grand scale, this has a two trillion dollar price tag and it faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

In 2021 instead of a lump sum after a person files their taxes, many Americans have been receiving half their estimated child tax credit in monthly payments. Congress is now debating extending the payments through 2022. A big difference, instead of receiving half the credit in monthly payments and a half after a person files taxes, the Build Back Better Act would change the system to allow people to receive their full credit in monthly payments.

"For each child under six next year, they will get $3600 based on the proposal for 2022. They will be getting $300 for each child under six next year. For children over six and through 17, they'll be getting $3000 per child and that would be $250 per child in advance," said Ted Langley a certified public accountant in Spanish Fort.

"They can opt-out if they want to if they don’t need it right now. It’s not going to harm them if they need it and are living month to month it really has been a game-changer," said Tammy Davis who helps process clients with client services at the Prodisee Pantry in Spanish Fort. Davis says getting the child tax credit early has made a difference even for families who once had high-paying jobs.

This week alone she's been working with three different families all with college degrees." It's not that they are sitting at home not working, they just don’t have the job that's equivalent to what they had before the company shut down so that has really helped out a lot. And I’ve seen it, every month we see families come through, they are hard-working families they just hit a rough spot," said Davis.

Accountants like Ted Langley say these advances on the child tax credits are nothing like the extended unemployment compensation that kept people from getting back into the workforce. "It helping put food on the table for a lot of parents so I don’t have the same issues I’ve seen with the child credit as I had seen with the unemployment compensation. This is actually a good thing it's just another nightmare for accountants to keep track of something," said Langley.

The Build Back Better Act also expands who is eligible for a payment. Current law allows parents who don't have social security numbers to receive a payment if their qualifying child has a social security number. This includes children who were born in the United States but whose parents are undocumented.