Urgent: Tell Congress, Include Extended CTC in End Of Year Tax Package!
How long will the richest country in the world tolerate millions of our children in poverty?
Urgent action needed to bring back extended CTC, which lifted millions of children out of poverty!
The time is NOW to contact Congress because the reinstatement of the expanded Child Tax Credit is being debated as part of negotiations over the end-of-year tax package. Please ask Congressional leaders and your Congressional representative to reinstate the monthly, fully refundable CTC including the 19 million children currently left out of the full credit because their families’ incomes are too low. It is unconscionable to allow corporate tax breaks while denying children and their families this much-needed relief. A deal likely will be cut this week.
The 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) was an overwhelming success! And it is popular: among 2022 voters, 77% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats, and 77% of Independents said it is important to reinstate the expanded CTC. By making it fully refundable (which made it available to the most impoverished families), raising the amount, and paying it out monthly, the expanded CTC resulted in the largest-ever decline in child poverty in a single year. But Congress failed to make that expansion permanent, driving 3.7 million children back into poverty. One impact: food insufficiency increased by 25% after the first missed CTC payment in 2022. And no means testing. Women caregivers across incomes are at risk of domestic violence, the Child Tax Credit provides an extra boost that helps families get to safety.
| Please click to send a message to elected officials: Our children are our most precious resource and must not suffer for partisan political gamesmanship. Using this sample letter, please ask your Congressional Representatives to reinstate the expanded Child Tax Credit. It would be important for you to add details about how you, your family, and community have benefited by the expanded CTC. Please share your personal story. You can also phone, use the sample letter and your personal notes as a guide. Find your Representatives’ phone numbers by entering your zip code here. or call the Capitol Switchboard 202‑224‑3121. Also contact Congressional leadership: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: (202) 225-5936 email at: democraticleader.house.gov/contact Sen. Chuck Schumer: (202) 224-6542 email at: schumer.senate.gov/contact/message-chuck You can find more details below about the nonpartisan support for the CTC and why Congress must defend their constituents who are impoverished by voting to reinstate the expanded CTC. |
Who is left out if the expanded CTC is not reinstated?
- 5 million children in Veteran and Active-Duty Military families lost out when the expanded CTC was not renewed.
- 19 million children – about 1/4 of all children, including nearly half of Black children, 4 in 10 Indigenous children, and 1 in 3 Latino children – are in families whose incomes are too low to receive the full tax credit.
- 33% of children in rural areas.
“I have a special needs son. Without the Child Tax Credit, some highly beneficial interventions that are not covered by his insurance are not accessible. I earn very low income due to caring for him, which is unpaid for, and I cannot afford paying for those interventions. My little girl’s extra-curricular activities have been taken away. She schools online and I have to fill in the necessary activities for her total development. Without the Child Tax Credit I am unable to give those essentials to my children.” –Mother in Pennsylvania
“What it means is we’re really struggling again. What it means is I have to decide whether to fix my car to do my delivery job or to pay rent on time. It means my daughter’s glasses broke and I can’t afford to get her new ones until her insurance kicks in. We’re struggling over which bills to pay and which not to pay. My son now needs an urgent medical procedure done in Pittsburgh, two hours away, and I have to figure out how we’re going to get there and stay over a few days.” – Indigenous mother in Altoona PA
“The CTC was helping me catch up on my bills, but now I’m going to have to be starting all over again. Plus food prices went up, and food’s going up more. With the CTC being shut off, some people’s going to be hungry again. That’s going to be a struggle because they ain’t upping your food stamps.” –Grandmother caring for 3 grandchildren in Philadelphia
See additional testimonies
Raising children is work: mothers and other family caregivers are already working!
Those blocking the expanded CTC say it should have a work requirement. What! Are they saying that caregiving is not work? That unpaid caregivers contribute nothing to society? That grandparents raising grandchildren should get a job outside the home? What about parents with disabilities, those who are full time students? Are they saying that mothers and other primary caregivers only have value if they leave their children in the care of others and take any job outside the home? They’re ignoring the $1.5 trillion that unpaid caregivers contribute to the US economy.
There is no evidence that the expanded Child Tax Credit caused a decline in parents who work outside the home. Additionally, primary caregivers include grandmothers who step up to care for children whose parents are impacted by the opioid epidemic or incarceration and to care for children who might otherwise end up in foster care with or adopted strangers. And these caregivers are in “conservative” and “liberal” states, rural & urban.
Of Wealthy Nations, the US is Close to the Bottom in Resources for Families
The US is way behind other western countries in providing benefits for families; when it comes to cash benefits for children the US is second to last. According to UNICEF, increasing government spending on cash benefits would result in significant reductions in child poverty. Hundreds of organizations are saying to Congress no tax credits for corporations without extending the CTC!
Samples of Tweets
Tag your Members of Congress; Spread the Word to your network.
Instructions: Copy and paste each message below into a new tweet on Twitter. You can add your own member of Congress’ Twitter tag to get their attention – to get their tag, on the Twitter home page type their name in ‘Search Twitter’ in the upper right corner.
#ChildTaxCredit cut child poverty to lowest level ever in US. But since it ended families struggle to keep food on the table. Children urgently need you to act now. I call on Congress to prioritize our children & REINSTATE the expanded #CTC.
5 million children in Veteran & Active-Duty Military families lost out when the refundable #ChildTaxCredit was not expanded. https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/5-million-children-in-veteran-and-active-duty-families-will-lose-out-if-child
94% of people who voted Democratic in 2022 and 77% who voted Republican, including 52% of white parents and 63% of BIPOC parents, say it is important for Congress to restore the Child Tax Credit reforms. Congress reinstate the expanded #ChildTaxCredit!
Congress reinstate #ChildTaxCredit! Include all families regardless of income or immigration status. No work requirements, mothers/caregivers already work hard! US families w children deserve permanent family allowance as in all other industrialized nations.
Who was left out when expanded CTC was not reinstated? 19 million children left out if the CTC is not fully refundable – that is covering families with income too low to pay taxes who have been excluded from some tax credits. #ChildTaxCredit
Who was left out when expanded CTC was not reinstated? 33% of children in rural areas because their families’ incomes are too low. #ChildTaxCredit
Who was left out when expanded CTC was not reinstated? 1 in 4 children because their families’ incomes are too low. #ChildTaxCredit
Who was left out when expanded CTC was not reinstated? Nearly half of Black children because their families’ incomes are too low. #ChildTaxCredit
Who was left out when expanded CTC was not reinstated? 4 in 10 Indigenous children because their families’ incomes are too low. #ChildTaxCredit
Who was left out when expanded CTC was not reinstated? 1 in 3 Latinx children because their families’ incomes are too low. #ChildTaxCredit
Issued by Global Women’s Strike (GWS), Women of Color GWS, and Care Income Now! (US) careincomenow@globalwomenstrike.net | Twitter/X | Instagram
| Sample Letter Suggested Subject: Reinstate the Expanded Child Tax Credit! Dear [Congressmember]: I’m calling on you to reinstate the expanded Child Tax Credit as part of the negotiations on a tax and spending bill. Like most voters, Democrat and Republican, I’m in full support of reinstating the expanded Child Tax Credit including the 19 million children who had previously been left out. We know the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) was an overwhelming success, dramatically reducing child poverty in the US! Keep it fully refundable (which makes it available to the most impoverished families), raise the amount, and pay it out monthly! And it is popular with voters across political parties: 77% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats, 77% of Independents support the expanded CTC. Our children are our most precious resource and must not suffer for partisan political gamesmanship. I call on you to make reinstating the monthly, fully available CTC a top priority and to pledge to not support extending corporate tax breaks while our families are denied this much-needed relief. Sincerely, |