Next week, the U.S. House is poised to vote on the $1.9 trillion COVID-relief package. And it’s up to us to ensure it’s as robust and inclusive as possible.
 
Write to your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to support increases to the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit to give immediate help to people and families who are struggling through this pandemic-caused recession.
 
The pandemic relief package is currently emerging from various House committees, and will be combined into one bill. Two critical aspects of this package are proposed expansions of the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. If passed, this legislation would cut childhood poverty nearly in half. These changes are long overdue.
 
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: "President Biden’s $1.9 trillion emergency relief plan includes a Child Tax Credit expansion that would lift 9.9 million children above or closer to the poverty line, including 2.3 million Black children, 4.1 million Latino children, and 441,000 Asian American children." [1]
 
If passed, this expansion of the Child Tax Credit would be available to 27 million children whose families don’t currently get the full credit because their parents don’t earn enough. And it would raise the maximum Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $3,000 for children between ages 6 and 17, and to $3,600 for children under 6.
 
For workers without children, their maximum EITC would rise from about $530 to $1,500. A cashier earning $9 an hour at 30 hours a week now gets only $160 in their EITC and still pays taxes that push them below the poverty line. The proposal before Congress would increase their EITC to $1,145, enough to edge them over the poverty line.[2]
 
Friend, will you send a letter to your members of Congress to ensure these critical elements are included in the final COVID relief bill being voted on next week?
 
The Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit work well, and have for decades. Together, we must fight for transformational economic change working people need and deserve. Fighting for the most comprehensive COVID relief bill is a critical part of lifting up working and low-income families throughout our country.
 
Thank you,
 
Eve Tahmincioglu
Director of Communications, EPI Policy Center