Since the termination of the enhanced child tax credit in December, studies reveal that child poverty rates have been progressively rising.
According to a study conducted by Columbia University's Center on Poverty and Social Policy, over 3.7 million additional children have slipped back into poverty as a result of the credits' expiration. Between July and December 2021, qualified parents could receive up to $3,600 for a child under the age of six and up to $3,000 for children aged 6 to 17.
This equated to a monthly payment of $250 or $300 for each child. Additionally, these qualifying households are now entitled to the second half of the tax credit money when they file a federal tax return this year.
To extend the popular credits for another year, Democrats needed to approve the contentious Build Back Better legislation, which they did not achieve, owing largely to opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). Manchin, like the majority of Republicans, believes that extending the credits will discourage people from working and that any new federal expenditure would worsen present inflationary pressures.
That's bad news for the millions of working-class parents who are striving to make ends meet. However, there is a chance that some type of improved credits will be approved in the near future.
President Joe Biden called for an extension of the enhanced credit in his State of the Union address, saying that "no one has to raise a family in poverty." Gene Sperling, a senior adviser to the president, also told reporters that the child tax credit is "something we all believe in and think is extremely important to get extended."
According to Cleveland.com, Sen Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has been in talks with Republicans, notably Sen Mitt Romney (R-Utah), about making an expanded version of the child tax credit permanent. Millions of households could receive $300 monthly bills as a result of this.
"It's going to happen, and I hope it's going to happen in a bipartisan way," Brown said during a press call earlier this week. As part of his efforts to promote the program, he contended that issuing the monthly checks to parents reduced the child poverty rate by 40 percent nationally. "My interest is getting it done for over a million Ohio families," he added.
Meanwhile, Romney has proposed a monthly cash benefit program of his own. The bill, known as the Family Security Act, intends to provide $350 per child to qualifying families with children under the age of five, and $250 per child to households with children aged six to seventeen.
In contrast to Democratic plans, Romney's plan attaches work conditions to the payments, most likely in an attempt to gain bipartisan support in a Senate that is evenly divided.
