Demand Progress

Resume the monthly Child Tax Credit payments!

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    Resume the monthly Child Tax Credit payments!

    Petition to the President and Congress:
    We urge you to stand up to all senators who oppose the expanded Child Tax Credit, and ensure this overwhelmingly popular program is included (without work requirements) in the Build Back Better agenda. It would reduce child poverty in the US by over 40%!

    We can cut child poverty in half this year by resuming the monthly Child Tax Credit payments to families that ended last month. Joe Manchin is blocking it — but there are 99 other Senators who could make it happen too. And they need to hear from us right now.

    Congress must reinstate the expanded Child Tax Credit to alleviate child poverty.

    Since July 2021, most families with kids have been eligible for expanded benefits as part of the pandemic relief package. President Biden's Build Back Better agenda proposes to continue this vital program — but one Democratic senator and all 50 Republican senators are blocking the proposal. If just one of them changes their vote, millions of American families will get the support they deserve.

    Sign the petition: We're calling on all senators to stop perpetuating child poverty and make the Child Tax Credit permanent! 

    Senator Joe Manchin and the 50 Republican senators who oppose the expanded CTC like to say the program is just too expensive. But in private remarks, Manchin has revealed he just doesn't trust low-income families to spend money wisely, going so far as to say parents would spend money on drugs, not essential goods.1 Manchin's contempt for the poor is appalling and he's totally out of touch with the needs of everyday Americans.

    Numerous studies demonstrate the tax credit reduces hunger and financial stress for American families.2 It also stimulates the economy — especially in rural states, including Manchin's home state of West Virginia.

    The White House's proposed version of the Child Tax Credit would lift 4.1 million children above the poverty line, cutting child poverty in the US by over 40%.4 But Manchin wants to restrict the program to apply only to households with working parents who earn a combined income of under $60k. 

    Instead of wasting money determining whether families meet draconian eligibility requirements, we should make the Child Tax Credit widely available. That way, instead of being billed as a program for the poor, the Child Tax Credit will become known as a program to provide families the help they deserve. 

    To quote Reps. Mondaire Jones and Katie Porter, "Universal programs are popular programs."

    Sign the petition: Tell Congress to pass the expanded Child Tax Credit without work requirements, and take on child poverty in America!  

    Sources:

    1. Huffington Post, “Joe Manchin Privately Told Colleagues Parents Use Child Tax Credit Money On Drugs,” December 20, 2021
    2. New York Times, “Child Tax Credit's Extra Help Ends, Just as Covid Surges Anew,” January 2, 2022.
    3. Washington Post, “Opinion: The GOP scamming of rural Trump voters continues. A new study shows the latest,” August 2, 2021
    4. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “American Rescue Plan Act Includes Critical Expansions of Child Tax Credit and EITC,” March 12, 2021
    5. Washington Post, “Opinion: Don't subject new Social Security benefits to means testing,” October 14, 2021