Jack, back in 2021, Democrats passed an expanded child tax credit (CTC) as part of Covid-relief measures.

The results were swift and incredible: For the first time in our history, child poverty dropped below 10%, reaching an historic low of only 1 child in 20 living in poverty in 2021. However, like other Covid-era relief programs, the expanded CTC expired and Congress failed to reinstate it.

Sign the petition to Congress: Fight child poverty. Restore the expanded child tax credit, and return the child poverty rate to historic lows.

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Families overwhelmingly used the money on basic necessities like food, housing and utilities. With corporations nickel and diming American families at the cash register and the end of pandemic support programs, the gains made by expanding the CTC have since eroded—the child poverty rate has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The enhanced Child Tax Credit ranks among the most successful anti-poverty programs of the last 60 years. Restoring this support for America's families must be a top priority.

Sign the petition to Congress: Fight child poverty. Restore the expanded child tax credit, and return the child poverty rate to historic lows.

Sign the petition
Keep fighting,
Monique Teal, Daily Kos

Read more about the impact of the expanded CTC—and the consequences for failing to make it permanent—below.

Jack, sign if you agree: Restore the expansion of the federal child tax credit and return the child poverty rate to the historic, low levels of 2020 and 2021.

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Despite our warnings to Congress, they chose to ignore us.

According to the Census Bureau, after the expansion of the child tax credit and other provisions in the COVID relief packages of 2020-2021 caused a historic decline in the child poverty rate to only 5.2%, the expiration of those programs more than doubled the child poverty rate to 12.4% in 2022, returning it to pre-pandemic levels. This was deliberate.

In December 2021, Congress neglected to extend the expansion of the federal child tax credit—which was included in the COVID relief packages of 2020-2021 and which had elevated nearly 4 million children out of poverty—despite President Biden and most Democrats in Congress supporting an extension. Subsequent legislative attempts to restore it have since stalled.

Sign the petition to Congress: Fight child poverty. Restore the expanded child tax credit, and return the child poverty rate to historic lows.

Sign the petition
While the expanded child tax credit was active, surveys indicated that most families spent the funds on essential needs such as food, housing, and utilities, and some even began to save for emergencies. For the first time in our history, child poverty dropped below 10%, reaching a historic low of only 1 child in 20 living in poverty in 2021.

There is a movement to restore the child tax credit. “When we expanded the Child Tax Credit," said Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), "we demonstrated that we don’t have to accept one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the industrialized world as a permanent feature of our democracy. [The Census data shows that] we never should have let it expire."

Sign the petition to Congress: Fight child poverty. Restore the expanded child tax credit, and return the child poverty rate to historic lows.

Sign the petition
Keep fighting,
Romario Brown, Daily Kos