John,

Actions taken by Congress last year reduced childhood hunger and poverty. But those programs have run out, hitting families particularly hard at a time of rising costs on everything from food to gas to housing.

We know we can make critical investments in our future when the rich and corporations start paying their fair share! Write to your members of Congress today demanding they pass programs for children and families that lower costs, reduce poverty, and address childhood hunger.

Last year, under the expanded Child Tax Credit more than 61 million children in roughly 36 million families across the U.S. received a monthly payment of $250 or $300 per child.

These payments put food on hard-up families’ tables, helped keep people in their homes, and enabled families to afford things like child care, utilities, health care, prescription drugs, clothes, and school supplies, just to name a few.

These payments also cut child poverty by 28%, and if sustained could cut child poverty by as much as 40% in a given year, according to the Urban Institute.[1]

Write to your members of Congress and demand they pass the expanded Child Tax Credit to put monthly payments in the pockets of tens of millions of families.

The isolation of the pandemic underscored what educators and nutrition and anti-hunger advocates have known: there are millions of children who need a nutritious breakfast and lunch at school but don’t get them.  

We know that when children do not have nutritious meals, they are more likely to fall behind in school and experience more health problems. Now, as rising costs and supply shortages have hit school food programs, Congress needs to provide more funding so more high-poverty communities can provide free meals to all students.

Children also need to eat when school is out, so Congress should create a nationwide Summer EBT program, providing debit cards for eligible families to help them purchase food when schools are closed.

Click here to take action and demand Congress address childhood hunger.

Even before the pandemic, young families were struggling to afford the astronomical costs of child care, which exceeds $10,000 a year in many parts of the country.[2]

President Biden is proposing that we cap the cost of child care at 7% of a family’s earnings and make investments to ensure early educators are paid a fair wage.

Investing in child care will help ensure costs don’t bankrupt families with low and moderate incomes, ensure child care workers are paid a fair wage of at least $15 an hour, and provide voluntary free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Write to your senators and representative and demand they pass critical programs that support children and families!

Together, we’re demanding Congress take action, invest in children and families, and pay for it by making the rich and corporations pay their fair share.

Thank you,

Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] “Expanding the Child Tax Credit Could Lift Millions of Children out of Poverty,” Urban Center, Sept. 7, 2021
[2] “The True Cost of High-Quality Child Care Across the United States,” Center for American Progress, June 28, 2021