This is Brian Lehrer's Daily Politics Podcast from WMYC Studios.

It's Thursday, July 15th.

I'm Rebecca Ibarra, host of WMYC's Consider This and a host in the WNYC Newsroom,

filling in for Brian Lair who has been on

vacation this week. Have you checked your bank account today? If you have children under 18,

then perhaps you found a few hundred extra dollars in it. That's because starting today,

millions of American families will receive as much as $300 a month per child through the

expanded version of the child tax credit program. Those payments will come for the next six months.

Experts estimate that the approximately $100 billion paid out to families will cut child poverty

in half. But as promising, as that notion may be,

the expanded child tax credit program expires in just one year.

And the rollout and how smoothly or bumpy it goes in the coming weeks

could help or hinder Democrats hope to extend it.

So first up today, we wanted to address what those bumps could look like

and answer your questions about eligibility and how to access your money if you and your child are

entitled to it. With us now is Michelle Singatory, professional finance columnist for the Washington

Post and author of the new book, What to Do With Your Money

When Crisis Hits. Hi, Michelle, welcome back to WNYC. Oh, thank you for having me. Great to have you here.

Okay, so big picture, what are these payments exactly, the payments that should be hitting people's

bank accounts starting today so their

child tax credits and so typically people would file for these credits when they file their return

because of the pandemic and family still struggling the Biden administration said let's send these

...