John,

One year ago today, the IRS sent out the last monthly Child Tax Credit payment to 36 million families.

Expanding the Child Tax Credit and making the full credit available to families with the lowest incomes for the first time in its history had almost immediate results. Child poverty fell by 46% in 2021, with Black and Hispanic child poverty falling by 6.3 percentage points in each community, impacting 716,000 Black children and 1.2 million Hispanic children.

And then it was gone, and very quickly, so were the gains in fighting poverty made with it.

Child poverty is not inevitable. It’s a policy choice. Send a direct message to Congress to demand they renew the expanded Child Tax Credit before this session adjourns!

Congress has about a week left to pass another expanded version of the Child Tax Credit and help 19 million of the poorest children. This is not only the morally right thing to do, but it’s politically popular. 85% of parents with babies and toddlers want Congress to take swift action in passing the expanded Child Tax Credit. And 94% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans believe passing the expanded Child Tax Credit is a legislative priority.

This is a critical moment -- your emails to Congress are needed NOW, to remind supporters and opponents alike that there is a large constituency outraged that Congress has allowed millions of children and families to go without the help they need.

When the 118th session of Congress begins in January it will be a divided Congress, which will make it harder -- if not impossible -- for legislation that supports vulnerable people to pass.

To be clear, the old Child Tax Credit back in effect now has a major flaw: over 19 million children and their families are currently excluded from the full credit because their parents' income is too low. You read that right. Families where a parent or grandparent can’t work due to illness, retirement, or being laid off cannot qualify for the Child Tax Credit at all. Working parents with low earnings can only receive part of the current maximum credit (now only $2,000 per child). That’s just another reason why we must pass the expanded Child Tax Credit now.

Click here to rush a direct message to Congress and demand they expand the Child Tax Credit!

Expanding the Child Tax Credit not only corrects this, but it’ll provide essential aid to families during a time of high inflation and as we may be approaching a recession.

Thank you for all you do to support vulnerable families, especially during these critical days,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs