The Baby Bonus Act establishes a new federal program to provide direct payments to eligible parents for newborn children. Beginning January 1, 2026, the program will pay $2,000 per child born (adjusted annually for inflation), with payments available up to 60 days before the expected due date and retroactively for up to one year after birth. To receive the benefit, parents must apply through a new Office of Baby Assistance within the Social Security Administration, providing documentation of the child's birth or gestational age (at least 20 weeks); the payment goes to the parent with primary custody, or is split equally if parents have a joint custody court order. The legislation covers biological parents, legal guardians, intended parents in surrogacy arrangements, and prospective adoptive parents, though the specific payment amount for subsequent years will be indexed to cost-of-living adjustments. The baby bonus payments are treated as non-taxable income and will not affect eligibility for other federal or federally-funded assistance programs.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.