Support Worker Relief & Credit Reform Act: mothers, other caregivers & students need it!
Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) has reintroduced the Worker Relief and Credit Reform (WRCR) Act (HR 1468) and we are encouraging that as many as possible support this important bill. The WRCR Act would redefine who is a worker to include those of us who are unpaid mothers/other unpaid family caregivers as well as low-income students in higher education – making both eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit for the first time. This is monumental – and urgently needed at this time when public benefits are under attack in Congress, including imposing further work requirements. See below for ways you and/or your organization can act NOW to support and endorse the WRCR Act.
SUPPORT & ENDORSE Congresswoman Gwen Moore’s Worker Relief & Credit Reform (WRCR) Act HR 1468, reintroduced March 9, 2023, so it becomes a reality for mothers, other caregivers and students.
The WRCR Act updates the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and rewards more workers. The WRCR Act will benefit half the population and cut poverty by one third, especially among single mothers, women of color, survivors of domestic abuse, people with disabilities and older women whose work is most hidden. (see below)
As Representative Moore said at the launch on March 9:
There are 10,000 people turning 65 every single day. We are a huge cohort of people. And our relatives lovingly, lovingly, take care of us – save billions of dollars in Medicaid when we’re not put in nursing homes, but that is uncompensated care. A half billion to a trillion dollars a year is uncompensated care, as women, mostly women… take care of disabled children, disabled spouses or loved ones or partners, disabled parents, aunts, uncles.
- Please ask your Representative in Washington, DC to sign on to the WRCR Act (HR 1468) right away as a co-sponsor. Send a model letter here: https://bit.ly/WRCRLetter
- And please endorse WRCR by signing on with your organization’s name or as an individual at https://bit.ly/WRCR2023
Fact Sheet: Worker Relief & Credit Reform Act (HR 1468)
As Rep Gwen Moore (D-WI), herself once a single mother on welfare, wrote to her colleagues:
Dr. King once said, “The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly….”
The Worker Relief and Credit Reform (WRCR) Act of 2023 puts money back into the pockets of those who need it most. At a time when 40% of Americans cannot meet a $400 emergency expense, and one in seven people in the US lives in poverty, the WRCR Act will boldly build on one of our most successful anti-poverty policies, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), to address poverty head on and reduce financial instability.
By modernizing and expanding the EITC, the WRCR Act would benefit nearly half of all people in the US (estimated at 161 million by ITEP in 2019); cut the poverty rate by one-third; benefit family caregivers, low income students, and older workers; and provide increased financial stability.
Key features of the WRCR Act include:
 | Modernizes the definition of work – credits the value of unpaid family caregiving (as well as the caregiving of cohabitating individuals). |
 | Treats higher education as work. Tax credit payments to low-income college students decrease poverty: more than 1 in 3 are food insecure and many are on the verge of homelessness. |
| You can get the credit in addition to other benefits such as TANF, SNAP, SSI, Child Tax Credit, Social Security, housing or other Federal or State/local programs financed at least in part with Federal funds. |
 | Expands the age range –workers without children are eligible starting at age 18 (instead of 25) and those older than 65 years are now eligible |
| Extends the EITC to benefit more people living in deep poverty and more people in the middle class. Also increases the maximum credit for most people to $4,000 for single filer and $8,000 for married filers |
 | People’s incomes are more equal throughout the year as WRCR allows for monthly advance payments for up to 75% of the estimated credit. Also, boosts taxpayer assistance initiatives including optional consultations, online services, and pilot outreach programs. |
- Please ask your Representative in Washington, DC to sign on to the WRCR Act right away as a co-sponsor. Send a model letter here: https://bit.ly/WRCRLetter
- And please endorse WRCR by signing on with your organization’s name or as an individual at https://bit.ly/EndorseWRCR23
Global Women’s Strike, Women of Color/GWS, Every Mother is a Working Mother Network, Care Income Now East: 215-848-1120 philly@globalwomenstrike.net West: 323-276-2833 la@allwomencount.net