U.S. child poverty statistics are sobering. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2019 (the last year for which reliable Census data exists) the United States was home to more than 10 million children living each day below the poverty level. Lawmakers have worked for years to address the problem of child poverty from a variety of angles.  The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 implemented the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC), which increased the annual Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per child to a maximum of $3,600 per child 5 or younger and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17. The new law also allowed parents to receive the credit monthly for half the year, with the rest being paid out through their annual tax refunds.

The CTC expansion was one of the most consequential and impactful anti-poverty policies implemented by Congress in recent memory. The Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy found that the first payment, sent out in mid-July 2021, lifted a staggering 3 million children out of poverty overnight. By the end of 2021, the enhanced benefit kept nearly 4 million children out of poverty.

The implications of the policy’s expiration have also been sharp. Columbia’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy recently found that 3.4 million children slipped into poverty between December 2021 and February 2022 due to the end of the enhanced Child Tax Credit monthly payments.

In this lame-duck congressional session, we are calling on Congress to make the Child Tax Credit fully refundable. In 2018, General Convention was on firm ground when it directed the church to “oppose federal cuts in tax credits that benefit low-income families including the…Child Tax Credit…”

Please sign a letter to your Representative and Senators and urge them to support a refundable, monthly Child Tax Credit. Our nation’s children deserve nothing less.

General Convention Resolutions:

2018-C041: Advocate for Policies Supporting Nutrition, Healthcare, and Housing as Human Rights
2009-C049: Develop a Plan and Activities to Address Domestic Poverty

Options to Take Action:

1. Sign on to the letters at the Action Table outside the church on Sunday morning.
2. Download a copy of the Action Letter that you can sign and mail.
   Letter for California or Letter for Outside California
   
3. Click on this link to the Episcopal Public Policy Action

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If you ever need to look up your member of the U.S. House of Representatives or your U.S. Senators check here: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

To find contact information for your California State Senator or California State Assemblymember check here: www.senate.ca.gov and www.assembly.ca.gov.