“no help came this past week because we let the expanded credit expire during an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and with prices rising on everything from groceries to utility bills.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia (2)
“The expanded credit kept at least 3 million children out of poverty every month between July and November, leading to a 30 percent decline in child poverty rates overall.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia
“The impact of poverty on children — developmental delays, fewer years of educational attainment, mental health effects — can have lifelong repercussions.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia
“There is more we must do. The permanent increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)… SNAP benefits should cover meal costs for families no matter where they live.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia
“Families who pay taxes but do not have Social Security numbers should also be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, one of our most effective anti-poverty programs.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia
“The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour for more than a decade… To reduce poverty and improve health, the minimum wage must become a living wage.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia
“Health insurance, paid family and medical leave, affordable child care and safe and secure housing should not be luxuries reserved only for those with means or those living in certain states, but guarantees for every family in this nation.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia (8)
“But whether it takes a month, a year, or a generation, we must keep up the fight. This nation should not stand for even one child living in poverty, and that should start with a permanent and more equitable expansion of the Child Tax Credit.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia (9)
“We can either build on this progress or cast it aside. Our choice will show who we are and what kind of country we want for our children.” - @DrRichBesser@DAcevedoGarcia
Therein is our challenge as a nation. Children are standing at a crossroads. (10)
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65 million children will be worse off and child poverty will nearly double if Congress fails to pass some version of #BuildBackBetter with the improved Child Tax Credit.
Child poverty is a policy choice. (1)
Leaving 65 million children worse off, @Sen_JoeManchin, is the equivalent of filling BOTH the West Virginia University Coliseum and the Cam Henderson Center at Marshall University a COMBINED 2,826 times. (2)
@Sen_JoeManchin The idea of a fully REFUNDABLE Child Tax Credit originally came from the bipartisan National Commission on Children created under President Reagan in 1989 and completed under President Bush in 1991.
“The most revolutionary part of President Biden’s agenda so far is his focus on a constituency that doesn’t write whiny op-ed columns, doesn’t vote, doesn’t hire lobbyists and so has been neglected for half a century: children.” - @NickKristof (2)
“Biden’s proposal to establish a national pre-K and child care system would be a huge step forward for children and for working parents alike. It would make it easier for moms and dads to hold jobs, and above all it would be a lifeline for…children.” - @NickKristof (3)