Failure to move CTC bill reveals who’s for kids and who’s “just kidding”
On the Senate’s failure to consider the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (H.R. 7024), First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley made the following statement:
“The U.S. Senate voted against our nation’s children yesterday. Instead of moving forward with a Child Tax Credit proposal that would have improved the lives of 16 million low-income children and lifted 400,000 out of poverty, 44 senators let politics intervene and chose to use children as a bargaining chip toward a 2025 deal that is unrelated to kids’ needs.
Politicians love to talk about kids and kiss babies. But families are tired of politicians paying lip-service to their needs. Children and their families want and need action. I have been fighting this fight for more than 20 years. Days like these can be very discouraging.
But our kids need us to stay in this fight — and, in fact, to fight even harder. We expect to hear more rhetoric about children and how important they are as the presidential race heats up.
It is important to remind lawmakers that poverty is a policy decision. It can’t be fixed with words. And kids have the highest poverty rates of any age group. The bill the Senate rejected would have eliminated a nonsensical penalty that punishes children whose mothers lose income during a pregnancy by cutting their Child Tax Credit. Mothers and babies who need support the most get the least, and this bill would have helped address this tragic circumstance.
Our babies and mothers are forced to wait, once again.
I urge everyone — every mom, dad, grandparent, and person of conscience — to vote for the people who put actions that meet the needs of children and families ahead of nice words. We need to distinguish between leaders who are for kids and those who are just kidding.”