Public spending on children benefits kids and families immediately and can have long-term payoffs for society and the federal budget.
Programs like the 2021 child tax credit expansion and pandemic economic impact payments contributed substantially to 2021’s drop in child poverty based on the supplemental poverty measure. In a May event with Urban, Matt Desmond, author of Poverty, by America, pointed to these policy success stories as worth building on.
But child poverty more than doubled in 2022 while public spending on children fell—a decline expected to continue.
As the farm bill faces reauthorization, policymakers can apply lessons learned from the pandemic response to address food insecurity.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government waived many Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) requirements and boosted the maximum monthly benefit. These changes helped reduce poverty nationwide.
“A farm bill strategy that prioritizes public health, rather than stigmatizing SNAP participants, could increase food access,” Urban researchers write, suggesting removing ineffective requirements and improving benefit amounts.
