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.
Tell the Senate that low-income families are not political pawns!
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 million children in families struggling to meet basic needs.
Tell the Senate that low-income families are not political pawns!
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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The Affordable Connectivity Program edition. One of the 21st century’s many enduring racial and class barriers is the digital divide. As of 2021, Black and Latino adults were almost twice as likely as White adults to lack broadband access. For many, whether you have access to high-speed internet too often depends on the color of your skin or the zip code in which you live – both strongly correlated with poverty.
On Monday, April 22, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which observers are calling the most important case in decades involving the rights of unhoused people. At issue: can cities, counties, and states punish people with fines or even jail time who sleep in public places when shelter beds or affordable housing are not available? Or does such action by governments constitute a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment?
Imagine losing everything you had. Your stability, your privacy, and in many cases basic respect from others. In 2023, over 653,000 individuals (about half the population of Hawaii) in the U.S. experienced homelessness.
As we mark Care Workers Awareness Month, advocates, political leaders, and the media are becoming more aware of the importance of building a care economy. Recently, PBS NewsHour embarked upon a five-part series entitled “America’s Safety Net.” The powerful series (you can find all five parts here) touched upon many of the issues we consider to be part of care infrastructure – Medicaid, Medicare, ACA, affordable housing, and the once-expanded Child Tax Credit, just to name a few.
Crystal Gail Crawford already had spent 15 years in the child care industry and was working as a nanny when the pandemic hit. “I loved my job,” she said at the White House this week. “But like many of you, I lost my job during the pandemic. And then I was in a terrible car accident – suddenly I found myself without a job and (with) chronic back pain.”
As Tax Day nears, the need to connect more eligible people to Direct File, a new digital tax filing tool from the IRS, is becoming more urgent. Direct File allows eligible taxpayers to file their taxes directly with the IRS securely, quickly, and for free. April 15 is the last day for most eligible filers to use IRS Direct File during this pilot year.
The Medicaid Unwinding Edition. One year ago this week, states were required to begin a process known as “Medicaid unwinding” — determining who on their Medicaid rolls was eligible to remain on Medicaid and who was not. During the pandemic, Congress told states not to do the usual periodic determinations of eligibility, so that people would remain eligible for health care if they contracted COVID-19. But as part of a spending bill passed in December 2022, states were required to resume their eligibility checks. As of the end of March, there were nearly 12 million fewer people on Medicaid, compared to a year before, of whom nearly 5 million were children.
Tax season has arrived! Between now and April 15, you should plan to file your Tax Year 2023 taxes. Follow our steps below to make sure you don’t miss out on any tax benefits for you and your family.
The internet is an integral part of our lives in this digital age. Nowadays, we rely on the internet not only for staying in touch with friends and family and entertainment but also for worship, work, health care, and managing our finances.
The Coalition on Human Needs helps lead Count All Kids, a campaign to improve the count of children in census data, and also advocates to improve how the census counts other communities where many members are missed, such as communities of color. When everyone in a community is counted, the community has more political power, more funding in programs that matter for kids, and better data to manage government programs and to help private sector planning too.
Since April 1, 2023, when states were allowed to terminate Medicaid beneficiaries for the first time since 2020, the “unwinding” of COVID-19 continuous coverage requirements has triggered huge Medicaid losses. Based on data from March 26, 2024, Medicaid covers 12 million fewer people than when unwinding began, including almost 5 million fewer children. Although some who lose Medicaid either return to the program or move to other coverage, historically two-thirds experience a brief or prolonged period without any insurance.
CHN applauds the Office of Management and Budget for the revised Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity released today. These standards will significantly improve our understanding of our country’s diversity. The data collected using these standards will be far more accurate and will be used for everything from redistricting at the federal, state, and local levels, to ensuring equal opportunity and fair treatment for all students, to assessing differences in disease rates and health care for different communities, to ensuring equal access to federally funded programs and benefits.