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Conservatives’ refusal to extend the federal child tax credit, a crucial lifeline many parents used to help keep their families afloat over the past year, is predictably leading to a spike in child poverty.
At a time when conservative figures are trying to score points with claims of supporting and protecting children from things such as books and masks, newly-released data poke a hole in their rhetoric.
The resistance to providing financial support to families in need is diminishing the quality of life for parents and children alike.
Specifically, a study from the Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy showed stark increases in child poverty over a one-month span from December 2021 to January this year, spikes that coincide with the tax credit's expiration. The credits were included in a Covid-19 stimulus bill President Joe Biden signed into law last year. Biden wanted to extend them another year as part of his Build Back Better plan, but those hopes were scuttled by conservative opposition — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in particular.
According to NBC News, Manchin, a crucial vote needed to pass the Build Back Better legislation, told colleagues he thinks parents will use the tax credits to buy drugs.
The Center on Poverty and Social Policy said the credits expiring pushed 3.7 million children into poverty since December, with Black and Latino kids seeing the largest percentage point increases.
Overall, child poverty rose by nearly 5 percentage points over the one-month span, representing a more than 40 percent increase.
Black children living in poverty increased by nearly 6 percentage points, representing a 30 percent increase. For Latino children, an increase of 7 percentage points represented a roughly 42 percent increase in children living in poverty. For Asian children, an increase of around 3 percentage points led to a nearly 27 percent increase in child poverty. And for white children, an increase of nearly 4 percentage points amounted to a 52 percent increase in child poverty.
The resistance to providing financial support to families in need is diminishing the quality of life for parents and children alike. And while many in the Democratic caucus are desperately pushing to revive the child tax credits, it’s helpful — if not enraging — to see the damage their opponents have wrought.