Michael Bennet came up with the idea on Wednesday to bypass the U.S. Senate’s filibuster rule to extend the child tax credit extension beyond the 2022 expiration date through a parliamentary process known as budget balancing.

The process only requires a simple majority to move some laws forward, as opposed to traditional measures that need to ensure the support of 60 senators to move forward.

In the budget vote, Bennet and other Senate Democrats passed the $ 1.9 trillion Coronavirus Support Bill without Republican votes last week. That bill is the means by which the child tax credit has been dramatically expanded for a year to provide essentially a guaranteed income for most Americans with children.

The challenge for Bennet, who has worked on politics for years and made it the central theme of his unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, and other democratic supporters of the expansion is now to continue and push it forward in 2022.

“We may even be able to do it there in this next reconciliation package,” Bennet said during a virtual event from the Colorado Sun. “It is certainly suitable for that.”

Bennet said he would prefer bipartisan assistance to make the child tax credit extension permanent. However, the reconciliation process offers an alternative, partisan path to one of the most progressive social policies in decades. Bennet’s office expects the next reconciliation package to be negotiated during the next Senate working period, which begins April 12.

“I think we’ll find a way,” said Bennet.

MORE: How the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus will affect Colorado and Coloradans

This is how the tax credit extension works:

Currently, taxpayers can apply for a child tax credit of up to $ 2,000 for any child under the age of 17 who is a citizen. If the credit exceeds the tax owed, families can receive a refund of up to $ 1,400 per child. Other dependents (e.g., children ages 17-18 and full-time students ages 24 and under) may receive a non-refundable credit of up to $ 500 each.

As part of the expansion passed under the American Rescue Plan, families can receive up to $ 3,600 for each child under the age of 5 and up to $ 3,000 for other children aged 17 and under. While it’s a tax credit, the money is supposed to be sent in installments before people traditionally start getting refunds, and people can get paid even if they don’t have a tax bill.

To be eligible for full benefit, a couple must have an adjusted gross income of $ 150,000 or less. A head of household with an adjusted gross income of up to $ 112,500 and single applicants with an income of up to $ 75,000 are fully eligible.

The credit, which is only valid for the 2021 tax year, will decrease for people who are making more money. Married couples with an Adjusted Gross Income of $ 400,000 or more and single people earning $ 200,000 or more are not eligible.

Payments could start as early as the summer, Bennet said. However, since the money is available in monthly installments, it may take some time for the IRS to work through the logistics.

It is estimated that more than 90% of American families with children are eligible for help. Studies have shown that policy change should cut child poverty in half.

Critics of the proposal, particularly conservatives, criticized the child tax credit as well as the expansion of other social safety nets programs, arguing that it could deter people from working and build the federal deficit.

Bennet admits that the US bailout has the potential to add to further inflation, but pointed to a number of other culprits driving national debt, such as wars in the Middle East and a health care system “twice as expensive as any other health care system in the world. “

“I think this was right for our economy because we still have more unemployed than we did during the Great Recession,” said Bennet.

Bennet also referred to a suggestion made by Republican Senator Mitt Romney in Utah as a sign of possible bipartisan interest. Romney has suggested a much lesser benefit, funded by cutting other programs to benefit the poor. He also cited a CNN poll that found 95% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans support Biden’s COVID relief plan.

“I think now that people understand the impact on our country and the 10 million children in America who are now being lifted out of poverty, it will be very difficult to go back,” said Bennet.

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Bennet gave a glimpse of how the tax credit would affect the Democrats’ political misdemeanor against Senate Republicans in 2022, contrasting Trump-era tax cuts that wealthy Americans benefited from to the child tax credit for Expand families in poverty. He also argued that eliminating the tax credit expansion by the end of next year would effectively represent a tax hike.

Although Bennet said President Joe Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York support the continuation of the expanded tax credit, there are indications that this is not a closed deal.

US Senator Michael Bennet at a “car rally” at East High School in Denver on Thursday, October 8, 2020. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)

“I’m not pollyannish about it,” he said. “My friend (US Senator) Rob Portman is a Republican from Ohio and cannot stand for re-election because you may be knocked off by a Trump Republican. And even in these circumstances it makes it very difficult to reach a bipartisan agreement. “

Vice President Kamala Harris, who named Bennet one of his earliest supporters in the Senate for the tax credit expansion, would not commit to extending the policy during a trip to Denver on Wednesday.

“Let’s take it one step at a time,” Harris told CBS4.