A fiery group of congressional Democrats is gearing up for an all-out battle to resurrect the pandemic-era child tax credit, fueled by newly released data that reveals a distressing surge in childhood poverty in 2022.
House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) passionately proclaimed, “I’ll stake the child tax credit against any other federal program when it comes to its resounding success.” Standing resolute alongside a cadre of lawmakers often referred to as the “CTC Six,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) declared, “This coalition will not stand for tax benefits showered upon corporations and the nation’s wealthiest while forsaking meaningful investment in the child tax credit.”
Context adds urgency to their cause, as recent data unveiled by the Census Bureau this week exposes a stark reality: the poverty rate for children in the nation more than doubled in 2022, soaring from a 5.2 percent figure in 2021 to a staggering 12.4 percent. This sobering turn of events unfolded after the child tax credit, initially integrated into the American Rescue Plan, expired at the close of 2021.
In the halls of Congress, these determined Democrats are gearing up for a fierce battle, unwilling to let the torch of hope for struggling families be extinguished. Their rallying cry is clear: to rekindle the child tax credit’s flame and wage a relentless war against the scourge of childhood poverty.
