Compassion on the home front
Members of Congress have shown enormous compassion for the besieged nation of Ukraine, approving more than $13 billion in aid this month. Since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, the U.S. Agency for International Development has provided more than $100 million in humanitarian aid.
U.S. Senators, however, have shown far less compassion for millions of impoverished children in the United States, after child tax monthly payments ended in January. Their failure to extend the Child Tax Credit, approved by the House in November, tossed nearly 4 million children back into poverty.
Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Bob Casey Jr., both U.S. senators from Pennsylvania, can make a huge difference by fighting to extend the Child Tax Credit now.
Build Back Better, which would have extended the credit, is dead. Another economic recovery bill, however, or even a stand-alone bill, could still include a full tax credit extension. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah has proposed a “Family Security Act” that includes a Child Tax Credit.
One way or the other, it must get done. Nearly 20% of U.S. children live in poverty, a figure that’s close to Mexico’s rate, reports the international Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Almost immediately after the Child Tax Credit monthly payments took effect in July, they cut child poverty by an estimated 30%. It provided most U.S. families with a credit against taxes of $250 a month, or $3,000 a year, for each child, ages 6 to 17. The credit rose to $3,600 a year, or $300 a month, for a child under 6.
Previously, the credit came at tax time only and maxed out at $2,000 per child. By contrast, monthly installments enabled families to budget for food, utility and housing costs. Some families opened their first bank account.
Middle- and working-class families also received the credit — in fact, most of its benefits went to them. In Pennsylvania, the program assisted an estimated 1.4 million families with 2.4 million children. The poorest among them face daily lacerations of hunger, instability and deprivation, with prospects nearly as dim as those of the displaced children of Ukraine.
The plan to extend Child Tax Credit stalled in the U.S. Senate, after one Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, joined every Republican, including Mr. Toomey, in opposing the bill, citing inflation and the national debt. He also wanted a work requirement.
Work requirements may sound reasonable but they withhold money from the children who need it most. They also ignore circumstances common in poor families, such as children living with retired grandparents, and can interfere with education, training and efforts to become self-sufficient. Studies in the United States and Canada also show child benefits have no significant effect on workforce participation.
With inflation nearing 8%, the indifference senators have shown toward the nation’s most vulnerable children is unconscionable. By extending Child Tax Credit now, however, and making the full refundability permanent, they can fulfill the nation’s moral responsibilities in Ukraine and on the home front.