The Build Back Better Act promised hard-won stability for all of our nation’s 74 million children. Abandoning this legislation would reverse the economic and social progress achieved over the last 12 months and severely undermine the needs of the country’s most vulnerable children.

“We sincerely hope that negotiations will resume on this once-in-a-generation legislation and look forward to the January vote proposed by Senate Majority Leader Schumer,” said Bruce Lesley, President of First Focus Campaign for Children. “We appreciate the efforts of Rep. Suzan DelBene and Sen. Ron Wyden to ensure passage of this critical opportunity and urge lawmakers to continue fighting for this historic agenda.” 

Here are 6 consequences of losing Build Back Better:

  1. If, as expected, Build Back Better fails and Congress implements a Continuing Resolution, the share of federal spending on children will once again skirt the historic lows reached under the Trump Administration, which bottomed out at 7.6%
  2. Renewal of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which was to become permanent, will resume its status as a political bargaining chip, imperiling the health of the 10 million children it covers
  3. Nearly 4 million children will be pushed back into poverty just in time for the new year
  4. The 27 million children who benefited most from the expanded Child Tax Credit — those in the very lowest income families — will return to receiving little or nothing at all. This number will encompass half of all Black and Hispanic children, and half of children in rural communities.
  5. We will forfeit two decades of work — initiated by President George W. Bush and supported and nurtured by successive Republican and Democratic presidents — to achieve a Child Tax Credit that reaches the children who need it most.
  6. The cost of child poverty will continue to sap more than $1 trillion from the U.S. economy each year.