A Year After Biden’s American Rescue Plan, Kids Are Falling Back Into Poverty. Congress Is To Blame.
2 years, 9 months ago

A Year After Biden’s American Rescue Plan, Kids Are Falling Back Into Poverty. Congress Is To Blame.

Huff Post  

During the darkest days of the pandemic, Congress stepped up and provided people with the stimulus checks they needed to get by — and that our economy needed to stay afloat. Last March, President Joe Biden and Democrats expanded the wildly popular child tax credit program, providing working families with up to $3,600 annually for every kid and transforming the benefit into an automatic monthly payment instead of a once-a-year line item on your tax return. In addition, at a time when all families are facing increased costs at the fastest clip in four decades, the child tax credit can offset rising prices on essential goods. The absence of child tax credit has resulted in the highest number of children living below the poverty line since December 2020. Outside the numbers, the expiration of the child tax credit will continue to perpetuate the pervasive notion that government doesn’t work, and that politics is a waste of time.

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History of this topic

No, Parents Didn't Spend Child Tax Credit Money On Drugs, Study Finds
1 day, 13 hours ago

No, Parents Didn't Spend Child Tax Credit Money On Drugs, Study Finds

Huff Post  

WASHINGTON – Parents who received monthly child tax credit payments in 2021 didn’t spend the extra cash on drugs, according to a new study that contradicts a top talking point against the payments. “He said he’s gotten phone calls from one grandmother specifically talking about her crackhead daughter ― he used the word crackhead three times ― talking about her …

After Congress let the child tax credit expire, some communities are filling the gap
3 months ago

After Congress let the child tax credit expire, some communities are filling the gap

NPR  

After Congress let the child tax credit expire, some communities are filling the gap The child tax credit passed by Congress at the height of the pandemic has expired, but states and other local jurisdictions are trying to step in to fill the gap with their own programs and funding. That's because families got monthly automatic payments from the government, …

Editorial: Which political party is really ‘anti-kid’? Just look at recent child tax credit history
4 months, 1 week ago

Editorial: Which political party is really ‘anti-kid’? Just look at recent child tax credit history

LA Times  

President Biden arrives to speak at an event to mark the start of monthly child tax credit relief payments in July 2021. There’s a reason voters are hearing more about the child tax credit during this presidential campaign, with both Republican and Democratic candidates voicing support for its expansion. Vance, who has disingenuously tried to label Democrats “anti-family and anti-kid,” …

Opinion: Why is the ‘pro-family’ GOP blocking legislation that would help lift many kids out of poverty?
5 months ago

Opinion: Why is the ‘pro-family’ GOP blocking legislation that would help lift many kids out of poverty?

LA Times  

Vice presidential candidate JD Vance is among the Republicans saying that Democrats are anti-family. Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance told Megyn Kelly last month that Democrats are calling for an end to the Child Tax Credit because they are “anti-family and anti-kid.” Vance, who has courted controversy for calling Democrats the party of “childless cat ladies,” then declared, “We …

Senate rejects legislation that would expand child tax credit and restore business tax breaks
5 months, 1 week ago

Senate rejects legislation that would expand child tax credit and restore business tax breaks

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — A bill to expand the child tax credit and restore some tax breaks for businesses failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday as Republicans largely opposed the measure, arguing they would be in position to get a better deal next year. He was also looking to counter assertions from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. …

Parents are struggling with high prices this year. It may shape how they vote
9 months ago

Parents are struggling with high prices this year. It may shape how they vote

NPR  

Parents are struggling with high prices this year. "I feel like it's harder now because even though I am financially where I wasn't 25 years ago, I feel like things have gotten more expensive," she says. Enlarge this image toggle caption Keren Carrión/NPR Keren Carrión/NPR Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Children's Defense Fund, says the economic benefits for …

US Child Tax Credit 2024: Who is eligible for the benefit?
11 months ago

US Child Tax Credit 2024: Who is eligible for the benefit?

Hindustan Times  

The House introduced expansions to the Child Tax Credit 2024 scheme by passing a bill last week. What does the Child Tax Credit 2024 expansion mean? The child should not file a joint return with their partner for the tax year OR file it only to claim a refund of withheld income tax/ estimated tax paid. Lower-income families will Tax …

House Passes Bipartisan Tax Bill Benefiting Parents And Corporations
11 months, 1 week ago

House Passes Bipartisan Tax Bill Benefiting Parents And Corporations

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bipartisan bill expanding the child tax credit, as well as business deductions long sought by corporate America. Wyden told HuffPost earlier on Wednesday that if the House passed the bill by a wide bipartisan margin, Senate Republicans would feel pressure to let it through the upper chamber. …

House passes bill to enhance child tax credit, revive key tax breaks for businesses
11 months, 1 week ago

House passes bill to enhance child tax credit, revive key tax breaks for businesses

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The House accomplished something unusual Wednesday in passing with broad, bipartisan support a roughly $79 billion tax cut package that would enhance the child tax credit for millions of lower-income families and boost three tax breaks for businesses, a combination that gives lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle coveted policy wins. He spent part of the …

New, expanded child tax credits are back — and they may actually pass Congress
11 months, 2 weeks ago

New, expanded child tax credits are back — and they may actually pass Congress

LA Times  

Congress, which has been setting records for a lack of accomplishments, may be on the verge of actually doing something big: passing a bill that could lift half a million kids out of poverty by next year. The proposal, which the House could vote on as soon as next week, involves an expanded tax credit for parents of children 16 …

Congress Hunts The Rarest Beast: Bipartisan Election-Year Deals
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Congress Hunts The Rarest Beast: Bipartisan Election-Year Deals

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON ― Congress is striving to accomplish what rarely gets done in an election year: three separate bipartisan agreements on taxes, spending and immigration policy. He said the House has a duty to "seek bipartisan compromises on tough, tough issues.” Drew Angerer/Getty Images In response to a surge of migrants at the southern border, Republicans have proposed …

Lawmakers announce bipartisan effort to enhance child tax credit, revive tax breaks for businesses
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Lawmakers announce bipartisan effort to enhance child tax credit, revive tax breaks for businesses

LA Times  

The chairmen of the top tax policy committees in Congress announced a bipartisan agreement Tuesday to enhance the child tax credit and revive a variety of tax breaks for businesses, a combination designed to attract support from lawmakers of both political parties. The bill would incrementally increase the maximum refundable child tax credit to $1,800 for 2023 tax returns, $1,900 …

Lawmakers announce bipartisan effort to enhance child tax credit, revive tax breaks for businesses
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Lawmakers announce bipartisan effort to enhance child tax credit, revive tax breaks for businesses

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The chairmen of the top tax policy committees in Congress announced a bipartisan agreement Tuesday to enhance the child tax credit and revive a variety of tax breaks for businesses, a combination designed to attract support from lawmakers of both political parties. The bill would incrementally increase the maximum refundable child tax credit to $1,800 for 2023 tax …

To tackle poverty, more states will offer bigger child tax credits in 2024
1 year ago

To tackle poverty, more states will offer bigger child tax credits in 2024

NPR  

To tackle poverty, more states will offer bigger child tax credits in 2024 Enlarge this image toggle caption Steve LeBlanc/AP Steve LeBlanc/AP Many Americans took a double whammy to the pocketbook this year: Prices for things like food and rent rose, and federal pandemic aid continued to peter out. "While the state-specific child tax credits are smaller than what we've …

A pediatrician's view on child poverty rates: 'I need policymakers to do their job'
1 year, 3 months ago

A pediatrician's view on child poverty rates: 'I need policymakers to do their job'

NPR  

A pediatrician's view on child poverty rates: 'I need policymakers to do their job' Enlarge this image toggle caption Cavan Images/Getty Images/Cavan Images RF Cavan Images/Getty Images/Cavan Images RF Child poverty in the U.S. has more than doubled in a year, and we have a pretty clear idea what drove it: Congress let the expanded child tax credit expire. The …

Child poverty in the US jumped and income declined in 2022 as coronavirus pandemic benefits ended
1 year, 3 months ago

Child poverty in the US jumped and income declined in 2022 as coronavirus pandemic benefits ended

Associated Press  

Child poverty in the United States more than doubled and median household income declined last year when coronavirus pandemic-era government benefits expired and inflation kept rising, according to figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, income inequality increased when using after-tax income, another result of the end of pandemic-era tax credits, according to Census Bureau reports on income, …

Column: Anti-poverty programs work. Why are Democrats letting them wither?
1 year, 10 months ago

Column: Anti-poverty programs work. Why are Democrats letting them wither?

LA Times  

It’s an article of faith down our way that Democrats are good at enacting programs that help ordinary Americans and the vulnerable but are atrocious at communicating their ideals and successes to the public, while Republicans care only about serving the rich but are superb at fostering the misimpression that they’re servants of the masses. Starting last year and culminating …

You’re not getting child tax credit checks anymore. Here’s why
2 years ago

You’re not getting child tax credit checks anymore. Here’s why

LA Times  

Christina Darling plays with her sons Kayden, 10, left, and Brennan, 4, at home in Nashua, N.H., in 2021. Darling and her family had qualified for the expanded child tax credit, part of President Biden’s $1.9-trillion coronavirus relief package. “It didn’t have enough time to just root in the way you need it to,” said DeLauro, who advocated for an …

Hopes fade for year-end tax deal in congress to aid companies, children
2 years ago

Hopes fade for year-end tax deal in congress to aid companies, children

Live Mint  

Lawmakers are struggling to reach bipartisan agreement on a year-end tax deal, and businesses and antipoverty advocates both look unlikely to get what they want. Republicans and many companies want to reverse, prevent or delay some tax increases on businesses that were scheduled in a GOP-backed 2017 tax law and that began taking effect this year. For families, the child …

Column: The Child Tax Credit is our greatest antipoverty program. Why is Congress letting it wither?
2 years, 1 month ago

Column: The Child Tax Credit is our greatest antipoverty program. Why is Congress letting it wither?

LA Times  

Sen. Joe Manchin III wants to limit the Child Tax Credit by imposing work requirements, even though his state is one of the most poverty-bound in the nation. Here are some documented truths about the federal Child Tax Credit: — The enhanced credit, enacted in March 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan, the government’s pandemic relief package, reduced …

Editorial: Congress can help struggling families by reviving the expanded child tax credit
2 years, 1 month ago

Editorial: Congress can help struggling families by reviving the expanded child tax credit

LA Times  

For a brief, six-month period last year, something life-changing happened for tens of millions of American families: They started receiving automatic monthly payments of as much as $300 per child to use for whatever they needed. But Congress allowed the payments to expire in January, ending an expanded child tax credit that slashed child poverty and could have been a …

One Of Democrats’ Proudest Policy Achievements Is Missing From The Midterms
2 years, 2 months ago

One Of Democrats’ Proudest Policy Achievements Is Missing From The Midterms

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING Last year Democrats boasted about a new monthly allowance they’d created for households with kids. Democratic campaign ads have highlighted the party’s support for reducing costs for the middle class, and any mention of “middle class tax cuts” could semi-plausibly be a reference to the child tax credit, since the monthly payments the IRS sent out last …

Poverty and uninsured rates drop, thanks to pandemic-era policies
2 years, 3 months ago

Poverty and uninsured rates drop, thanks to pandemic-era policies

NPR  

Poverty and uninsured rates drop, thanks to pandemic-era policies Enlarge this image toggle caption Mario Tama/Getty Images Mario Tama/Getty Images The Census Bureau released some heartening news Tuesday. Uninsured rate approaches record lows, thanks to Medicaid The census numbers show 8.3% of Americans – or 27.2 million people – did not have any health insurance in 2021. "The reason the …

Democrats’ big package: What remains in and what’s out?
2 years, 5 months ago

Democrats’ big package: What remains in and what’s out?

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — It’s nowhere near the $4 trillion proposal President Joe Biden first launched to rebuild America’s public infrastructure and family support systems but the compromise package of inflation-fighting health care, climate change and deficit reduction strategies appears on track toward Senate votes this weekend. What’s in, and out, of the Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” as it stands …

What’s in, and out, of Democrats’ inflation-fighting package
2 years, 5 months ago

What’s in, and out, of Democrats’ inflation-fighting package

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — What started as a $4 trillion effort during President Joe Biden’s first months in office to rebuild America’s public infrastructure and family support systems has ended up a much slimmer, but not unsubstantial, compromise package of inflation-fighting health care, climate change and deficit reduction strategies that appears headed toward quick votes in Congress. Lawmakers are poring over the …

Loss Of Child Tax Credit Payments May Have Hurt Joe Biden’s Approval Rating
2 years, 9 months ago

Loss Of Child Tax Credit Payments May Have Hurt Joe Biden’s Approval Rating

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING Parents who received monthly child tax credit payments were likelier than the average voter to approve of President Joe Biden last year, but actually might have become less likely to approve of Biden after the checks stopped. As Biden’s approval among likely voters sagged last fall, the apparent boost from the child tax credit diminished as well. …

Column: The blockade of Build Back Better means millions more children condemned to poverty
2 years, 10 months ago

Column: The blockade of Build Back Better means millions more children condemned to poverty

LA Times  

Sen. Joe Manchin III is blocking key anti-poverty programs even though his state is one of the poorest in the nation. In its first six months, the expanded Child Tax Credit has shored up family finances amidst the continuing crisis, reduced child poverty and food insufficiency, increased families’ ability to meet their basic needs. “The weight of the evidence is …

Study: Child poverty rising after tax credit expires
2 years, 10 months ago

Study: Child poverty rising after tax credit expires

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The number of children in America living in poverty jumped dramatically after just one month without the expanded child tax credit payments, according to a new study. As part of Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue package last year, the existing child tax credit program was massively reshaped, boosting the amount of the payments, greatly expanding the pool of …

Child Poverty Spiked After Tax Credit Expired, Early Research Suggests
2 years, 10 months ago

Child Poverty Spiked After Tax Credit Expired, Early Research Suggests

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON – Low-income parents faced more hardship in January after Congress failed to continue the monthly child tax credit payments that slashed child poverty last year. “The monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1% in December 2021 to 17% in January 2022, the highest rate since the end of 2020,” the Columbia researchers said in their latest …

Money on the table: child credit $ available via tax returns
2 years, 11 months ago

Money on the table: child credit $ available via tax returns

Associated Press  

The Biden administration wants families with children to know that there is roughly $193 billion waiting for them — all they need to do is file their taxes to claim it. That is the only way to receive the second half of what you are owed.” The public push is occurring at a critical juncture for both the U.S. economy …

Child tax credit: Brace for a smaller tax refund if you got monthly payments in 2021
2 years, 11 months ago

Child tax credit: Brace for a smaller tax refund if you got monthly payments in 2021

CNN  

CNN — Many parents may not be so happy when they file their tax returns this year. That’s because more than 36 million families already received half of their enhanced child tax credit in monthly payments during 2021. More complicated scenarios Some parents may find they’ll get a much smaller refund – or even have to pay back some or …

Senators push Biden to fight to preserve the child tax credit
2 years, 11 months ago

Senators push Biden to fight to preserve the child tax credit

LA Times  

Five Democratic senators urged President Biden on Wednesday to continue to fight hard to extend the child tax credit, which he suggested last week might have to be dropped from a revamped version of his sweeping climate and domestic spending package. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Ron …

Goodbye ‘godsend’: Expiration of child tax credits hits home
2 years, 11 months ago

Goodbye ‘godsend’: Expiration of child tax credits hits home

LA Times  

Hairdresser Chelsea Woody stands outside her car at a grocery store in Charleston, W.Va. For the first time in half a year, families on Friday went without a monthly deposit from the child tax credit — a program that was intended to be part of President Biden’s legacy but has emerged instead as a flash point over who is worthy …

Op-Ed: One huge cost of letting the expanded child tax credit die? Harm to developing brains
3 years ago

Op-Ed: One huge cost of letting the expanded child tax credit die? Harm to developing brains

LA Times  

Rep. Maxine Waters, left, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hold a news conference Aug. 12 at the Ethel Bradley Early Education Center in Los Angeles to discuss the importance of the expanded child tax credit. These payments reached 27 million children from families with taxable earnings too low to benefit from the annual tax refund provided by the previous child …

How 2021 Could Have Been Different for Biden
3 years ago

How 2021 Could Have Been Different for Biden

Live Mint  

With inflation running at more than 6 percent and President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda in peril, ’tis the season for second-guessing. So I’d like to focus on what may well have been the original sin of the Biden administration and the narrow Democratic majority in Congress: last February’s decision to reject Senate Republicans’ offer of a $600 billion Covid relief …

Biden acknowledges $2T bill stalled, but vows it will pass
3 years ago

Biden acknowledges $2T bill stalled, but vows it will pass

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has all but acknowledged negotiations over his sweeping domestic policy package will likely push into the new year, as he does not yet have the votes in the Senate to lift the roughly $2 trillion bill to passage. “The best Christmas gift Washington could give working families would be putting this bad bill on ice,” …

Biden acknowledges $2T bill stalled, but vows it will pass
3 years ago

Biden acknowledges $2T bill stalled, but vows it will pass

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday all but acknowledged negotiations over his sweeping domestic policy package will likely push into the new year, as he does not yet have the votes in the Senate to lift the roughly $2 trillion bill to passage. Schumer said Democrats “strongly disagree” with the parliamentarian’s decision and vowed to “pursue every means” so …

AP source: Biden, Manchin sharply divided over $2T Dem bill
3 years ago

AP source: Biden, Manchin sharply divided over $2T Dem bill

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin were said to be sharply divided Wednesday over Democrats’ huge social and environment bill, with the holdout senator pushing to erase the measure’s improved child tax credit, as leaders’ hopes of passing the legislation before Christmas appear to be fading away. Many Democrats consider the expanded child tax credit the bill’s …

COVID-expanded child tax credit benefit nears lapse
3 years ago

COVID-expanded child tax credit benefit nears lapse

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — It’s one of the most far-reaching of all the federal aid programs launched during the COVID-19 pandemic — up to $300 per child going directly into the bank accounts of families on the 15th of every month. The swift launch, and potentially quick end, to the bolstered child tax credit highlights the risks of enacting sweeping social policy …

What’s in, and what’s out, as House nears vote on Biden bill
3 years, 2 months ago

What’s in, and what’s out, as House nears vote on Biden bill

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s now- $1.85 trillion plan to boost social and education programs as well as protect against global warming continues to be fine-tuned by Democrats in Congress with a new goal of completing work before Thanksgiving. TAX BREAKS — An expanded child tax credit would continue for another year. — The expanded Earned Income Tax Credit that …

How Joe Biden's Big Gamble On The Child Tax Credit Could Pay Off
3 years, 2 months ago

How Joe Biden's Big Gamble On The Child Tax Credit Could Pay Off

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON ― Democrats want monthly cash benefits for parents to continue forever, but their Build Back Better bill would extend the enhanced child tax credit for just one year. But Democrats might like to talk about the need for another child tax credit extension when they’re campaigning in next year’s midterms, when they are widely expected to …

Child Tax Credit Won’t Get ‘Work Requirement,’ Democrats Say
3 years, 2 months ago

Child Tax Credit Won’t Get ‘Work Requirement,’ Democrats Say

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON — It looks like Sen. Joe Manchin won’t prevail in his quest to deny child benefits to unemployed parents. Democrats told HuffPost this week that they don’t expect a “work requirement” to be added to the child tax credit as part of the Build Back Better bill they’re hoping to pass in the next few weeks. …

Child tax credit tussle reflects debate over work incentives
3 years, 2 months ago

Child tax credit tussle reflects debate over work incentives

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — To supporters of the child tax credit, there has always been an “aha moment” — the recognition that as little as a few hundred dollars a month could be life-changing. Bennet and DeLauro are among the Democratic lawmakers who have pushed to make permanent an expanded child tax credit, which President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package transformed into …

Biden's equity agenda hangs in balance in the Congress spending negotiations
3 years, 2 months ago

Biden's equity agenda hangs in balance in the Congress spending negotiations

NPR  

Biden's equity agenda hangs in balance in the Congress spending negotiations Enlarge this image toggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images On his very first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order meant to begin unraveling the systemic barriers that have magnified economic inequality in the United States. Sponsor Message Where the agenda …

Democrats grapple with pared down Build Back Better agenda
3 years, 2 months ago

Democrats grapple with pared down Build Back Better agenda

CNN  

CNN — Forced to pare down their bill to expand the social safety net, Democrats are now having to make tough calls on what they can cut from the proposal, prompting fresh concerns from members who had been working for years on provisions that once had been included in President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda and now may be …

What’s in, and what’s out, as Democrats trim Biden bill
3 years, 2 months ago

What’s in, and what’s out, as Democrats trim Biden bill

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — After months of talks, Democrats are edging closer to an agreement on what programs and policies to include in President Joe Biden’s massive plan to expand health and safety net programs and combat global warming. But here’s where the bill stands so far, according to lawmakers and aides: — A child tax credit increase would continue for another …

What's in, and what's out, as Democrats trim Biden bill
3 years, 2 months ago

What's in, and what's out, as Democrats trim Biden bill

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But here's where the bill stands so far, according to lawmakers and aides: — …

Democrats Consider Risky Plan To Scale Back Child Tax Credit Extension
3 years, 2 months ago

Democrats Consider Risky Plan To Scale Back Child Tax Credit Extension

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON — Democrats say this year’s new monthly allowance for parents is one of their greatest achievements — but they might only extend it for one more year. Democrats had originally planned to extend the benefits — which are advance refund payments of the child tax credit — through 2025 so that the policy would expire around …

Child Tax Credit Delay Affecting Thousands Of Parents
3 years, 3 months ago

Child Tax Credit Delay Affecting Thousands Of Parents

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING The Internal Revenue Service failed to send child tax credit payments on time to 700,000 households this month, and some are still waiting for their full benefit. “With the kids going back to school I spent a little extra on school clothes.” The IRS said it resolved the glitch on Friday, which primarily affected married taxpayers who …

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