Joe Manchin wants to limit who can get child tax cuts — and block retired guardians from getting any

Sen. Joe Manchin (R-WV) has come out with additional "red lines" he has for President Joe Biden's agenda, according to Axios sources.

Among Manchin's demands is to limit who can get the child tax cut to only those making under $60,000 a year, not adjusted for inflation or the country's region. It is frequently assumed that anyone making over $60,000 a year is wealthy but it doesn't take into account that cost of living in many areas of the country consider that lower class.

People familiar with the matter also said Manchin also wants to block anyone who is retired who may be a grandparent with custody of children or foster or adoptive parents, saying that they must be employed to get the money. There have been many children who've lost parents due to the opioid epidemic or COVID-19, and their families could use whatever funding possible to help.

A study by Pediatrics cited at least 140,000 children under the age of 18 who have been orphaned due to COVID-19 between April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. According to the United Hospital Fund, 1.435 million children are missing at least one of their parents due to a drug addiction and 240,000 children have had a parent who died due to an opioid overdose. At the same time, authorities have removed 325,000 children from their homes and placed them in foster care or with relatives due to opioids.

In Manchin's home state of West Virginia, 5,081 children enter foster care every year, reports ComfortCases.

Manchin also wants to cut subsidies for child care. That said, Axios claimed Manchin is "less interested in the $225 billion to $450 billion paid family leave proposal or $400 billion for a new program to provide elder care, according to people familiar with the matter."

Read the full report at Axios.com