First Focus Campaign for Children spearheaded the following letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) — along with 14 other advocacy groups joining as signatories — applauding his leadership to advance both important tax improvements that benefit children and low-income families and child care legislation. The letter also urges the Chairman and committee members to continue to ensure that any legislative effort to move some tax provisions (extenders and/or technical corrections to the 2017 law) this year includes tax improvements that would help to lift kids and working families out of poverty and build a tax code that is fairer and more equitable toward low- and moderate- income families and children.
Excerpt from the letter:
As national advocacy organizations committed to improving the well-being of our nation’s children and the economic security of women and working families, we write to thank you for your leadership in crafting and shepherding through committee the Economic Mobility Act of 2019 (H.R. 3300), and the Child Care Quality and Access Act of 2019 (H.R. 3298). The much-needed tax and child care assistance in these provisions are critical investments for low-income workers, women and children. In the coming months, Congress likely will consider legislation to extend a suite of temporary tax breaks for businesses and/or make corrections to the 2017 tax law, and we urge you to stand firm on the inclusion of tax-credit improvements and policy changes benefitting working families and children, such as those in H.R. 3300 and H.R. 3298, in any year-end legislative package. These policies will build momentum for additional, permanent reform of the tax code that supports parent’s participation in the labor force, and helps struggling families afford basic necessities, make ends meet, and strengthen their children’s healthy development.