Tell the Senate: Expand the Child Tax Credit now and reject attacks on low-income families
Cynical Senators are playing politics with the Child Tax Credit―and with the lives of millions of families with young children.
Some members of the Senate are lining up to block a tax package that will benefit 16 million children in lower-income families via an expanded CTC, despite a broad bipartisan House vote. Why? For some, the answer is simple: pure politics.
Expanding the Child Tax Credit is popular and is proven to dramatically reduce child poverty levels. So why are some members of the Senate trying so hard to stop the Senate from moving forward on this bipartisan package, and kill the CTC with poison pill amendments? Maybe because they think they can get a bill with more corporate tax breaks and a weaker CTC in the next Congress. Or maybe they don’t want to hand President Biden a legislative victory on an issue he has consistently championed. Whatever the reason, they are denying low-income families with children a bigger refund check just as millions of families are filing their taxes. We need Congress to act by the end of April to make it easier for people to receive a higher CTC as soon as possible. That’s why we are holding Senators accountable to take up this bipartisan tax package now.
The expanded Child Tax Credit included in the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would lift 400,000 children out of poverty in tax year 2023, rising to 500,000 above the poverty line in 2025. It would also add much needed income to about 16 millionchildren in families struggling to meet basic needs.
Click “START WRITING” to send a message to your Senators right now and urge them to reject the stalling tactics of politicians playing political games and pass the expanded Child Tax Credit for low-income families before the end of tax season. Children and families need help now!
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CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship October 8, 2021
The 700,000 deaths edition. The U.S. has now officially surpassed 700,000 COVID-19 deaths. Only about 65 percent of the eligible U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Some states, from the South to the Upper Plains to the Mountain West, are under 50 percent. In August, for the first time, the rate of coronavirus infections among children topped infection rates for adults 18 to 64 and seniors.
It is true that new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are all significantly down, and experts say the worst of this current wave brought on by the Delta variant is behind us. But they also warn that we are not out of the woods yet. To put things in perspective, consider that the average daily infection rate in recent days is just over 100,000. A year ago, when the worst wave of the pandemic at that time was just getting started, experts were worried because daily infection rates had risen to more than 50,000 a day.
“We’re not out of danger,” Ali Mokdad, a University of Washington epidemiologist toldthe New York Times this week. “This virus is too unpredictable and has taught us one lesson after another.”
Meanwhile, negotiations continue in Congress over the future of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Passage of the plan is crucial – and the final version must include significant investments in health care, home care, child care, education, housing, refundable tax credits for families with children and low-income Americans, nutrition assistance, paid family and medical leave, help for the jobless, climate change, legal status for immigrants, and more. The data below show multiple ongoing risks for children, and yet there are proposals to undermine the stunning anti-poverty effectiveness of the Child Tax Credit, despite compelling research of its benefits.
We’re asking you to tell Congress: as it negotiates, keep all of these investments in the package. And to pay for them, make the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations pay their fair share. Write your House member and your Senators here.
99,669/1,765
99,669 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday, October 7, along with 70,670 hospitalizations, and 1,765 deaths. That’s a 22 percent decrease in new cases, a 21 percent decrease in hospitalizations, and a 13 percent drop in deaths over the previous 14 days. Tweet this.
More than 140,000
From April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, more than 140,000 children in the U.S. lost a parent, custodial grandparent, or grandparent caregiver who provided the child’s home and basic needs to COVID-19, according to a new study by the CDC. Children of racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 65 percent of those who lost a primary caregiver to COVID-19 – yet another example of racial disparities associated with the pandemic. Tweet this.
95%
95% of families with the lowest incomes who get the Child Tax Credit are working, between jobs, have a disability or are ill, elderly, or have a child under age 2. Proposals to require proof of employment to receive the CTC will take the giant backwards step of once again denying help to children whose caregivers at least temporarily cannot work. Tweet this.
462
The number of economists signing letter to Congress saying a fully refundable CTC would have massive positive impacts in reducing child poverty and would have a “negligible effect on employment.” Tweet this.
3.5x/2.7x
As of August 31, 2021, there were almost 4.9 million infections, more than 39,000 hospitalizations, and 725 deaths due to COVID-19 among children age 19 and younger. American Indian and Alaskan Native children were 3.5 times more likely to die than white children; Black children were 2.7 times more likely to die. Latinx children were also more likely to die than their white counterparts, while Asian children were less likely to die. Tweet this.
$200,000
New researchshows that moving from a below-average to an above-average upward mobility neighborhood increases the lifetime earnings of a child growing up by $200,000, and decreases the likelihood that children end up incarcerated or give birth during their teen years. This is another example of why the U.S. must increase its stock and geographic diversity of affordable housing.
$14,000/$500
The world’s richest countries contribute an averageof $14,000 a year for a toddler’s child care. The U.S. spends just $500. President Biden’s Build Back Better plan would not eliminate this gap – but it would be an historic step toward closing it.
39,000/107,000
A new study found that COVID-19 vaccinations during the first five months of this year helped prevent 39,000 deaths and 107,000 hospitalizations among older Americans. The study, released this week by the Department of Health and Human Services, focused on millions of Medicare recipients.
$24 billion
One analysisshows that hospitals struggling with COVID-19 caseloads, particularly in rural areas and the South, have had to pay an additional $24 billion a year to meet increased labor costs, mostly for overtime and costly contract nurses. That’s an increase of 63 percent between October 2019 and July 2021.
1.55 million
Researchconducted by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University shows that the 11-month CDC moratorium on evictions prevented 1.55 million eviction filings nationwide. The moratorium has now expired.
October 8, 2021 