The issue focused on the amount of money the government can give to some high-income families, with the full cost of the program being paid for by the rest of the country.

U.S. President Donald Trump's 2018 budget includes a $1.2 billion cut to the program, or about 3.4 per cent of the country's total non-security budget.

The move is one of the first direct attacks on the program in the Trump administration, but it is not the first time