A spike in child poverty will inevitably result from conservatives’ refusal to extend the federal child tax credit, a lifeline many parents used to make ends meet over the past year.
MSNBC reported that, as conservative figures make claims about protecting and supporting children from things such as books and masks, recently released data poke holes in their rhetoric.
Parents and children alike are suffering because of a refusal to provide financial support to families in need.
A study from the Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy found a dramatic spike in child poverty from December 2021 to January this year, coinciding with the child tax credit expiration.
Last year, President Joe Biden signed into law Covid-19 stimulus legislation that included the credits.
In his Build Back Better plan, Biden sought to extend them an additional year, but conservatives rejected his proposal — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in particular.
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NBC News reported that Manchin, a crucial vote for the Build Back Better legislation, told colleagues that he believes parents will use tax credits to purchase drugs.
According to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy, the expired credits have pushed 3.7 million children into poverty since December, with Black and Latino kids experiencing the largest percentage point increases.
Over the past month, child poverty increased by more than 40 percent, or nearly 5 percentage points.
Nearly 6 percentage points of black children now live in poverty, representing a 30 percent increase.
Increasing poverty rates are by 7 percentage points among Latino children would represent a 42 percent increase.
An increase of just over 3 percentage points resulted in a nearly 27 percent increase in child poverty for Asian children.
A 4 percentage point increase in child poverty for white children equates to 52 percent more child poverty.
By denying financial assistance to families in need, both parents and children’s quality of life will definately be affected.
And while many in the Democratic caucus are desperately pushing to revive the child tax credits, it’s helpful to see the damage their opponents have wrought.