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!
Take Action
Subscribe
Donate
For the past few months, Voices for Human Needs has reported on renewed efforts throughout the U.S. to urge Congress to once again expand the Child Tax Credit. As Congress rushes to complete its work before year’s end, the expansion efforts have increased in volume and urgency. Over the past weeks, CHN has worked in an additional seven states with local leaders, children’s advocates and frontline service providers to explain to the public the tremendous need and rationale for an expanded CTC.
A report released Thursday by prominent human needs advocacy groups warns that unless Congress takes action, 15 million people could lose Medicaid coverage after the Biden Administration ends the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. The report was co-issued by the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, the Coalition on Human Needs, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP, the National Urban League, and UnidosUS.
Right around the time I heard lawmakers were considering a year-end package of tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, my 12-year-old son’s bike broke. It felt like just another thing I couldn’t fix for him. Yet here are our lawmakers “fixing” things for those with the fewest problems. That’s unacceptable when there are so many ordinary families who need help.
Where I live, the seasons change fast. We’ve barely put away our jack-o’-lanterns in Kansas City when a cold wind blows in from the prairie, bringing down leaves — and soon after that, ice storms and snow. But no matter how cold it gets, we always look forward to seeing family and friends over the holidays. We all want our homes to be filled with joy, comfort, and the people we love the most. But many of us will miss someone at the holiday table, because our country’s overdose crisis now touches almost every family and community.
The no relief for corporations unless we help families edition. Congress has returned for its lame-duck session, and corporate lobbyists are frantically pressuring members to approve business tax breaks before they leave later this month. But families and human needs advocates are telling their Senators that expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC) must be a priority in any year-end tax package. In particular, advocates are insisting on full refundability for the CTC so that 19 million children in low-income families across the U.S. are not excluded from receiving all or any of the current $2,000 per-child CTC.
April 18, 2020, is a day that Heather Elizabeth Brown will never forget. It was the day that after receiving countless negative COVID-19 tests throughout the month and being sent home from the hospital twice, Brown was finally admitted as a COVID-19 patient. Her journey would then include a 31-day medically induced coma, a stroke, blood clots, and two blood transfusions. Now, more than two years later, Brown is still feeling the effects of her COVID-19 diagnosis.
Despite some hard times this year, there is much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here are ten things that come to our mind at CHN.
Speaker Pelosi’s oft-repeated “For the children” exhortation was not just a catch-phrase, but a commitment to improve the lives of children and their families. In a time when far too many elected officials substitute aggrandizement for leadership, a look at the career of Nancy Pelosi is a good reminder of what real leadership can do.
Antisemitism is a chronic disease and we’re currently living through an outbreak. But we have the power to prevent antisemitic acts from continuing to spread.
Race-conscious admissions policies help schools see the full picture. When those policies are reversed we see that the whole student body suffers.
The Medicaid and health edition. Health care was on the ballot in several states this past Tuesday. In South Dakota, 42,500 additional people will eventually be eligible for Medicaid benefits after voters approved Medicaid expansion. In Oregon, voters approved an historic measure that amends the state’s constitution to mandate that all residents have access to “cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care.” And in Arizona, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 209, which reduces the amount of interest creditors can charge for health debt from 10 percent to 3 percent. Meanwhile, on the federal level, there are urgent health care issues that Congress must address when members return later this month.
Last week, Voices for Human Needs reported on renewed efforts throughout the U.S. to urge Congress to once again expand the Child Tax Credit. As families struggle with rising prices — everything from the food they buy to rising rents to increased energy costs — action is needed more than ever. This week, the calls for CTC expansion continued, with new stories in six states.