Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell celebrated what he called a win for the GOP as lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a sprawling government funding package that includes $858 billion in military spending and leaves out a Child Tax Credit expansion that Democrats and progressive advocates demanded. “This is a strong outcome for Republicans, and much more importantly, it’s the outcome that our nation’… Source Source / Read More: McConnell Celebrates Government Funding Package That Excludes Child Tax Credit
Child Tax Credit
With No Child Tax Credit, Families Are Slipping Back Into Poverty Amid Inflation
Originally published by The 19th A year ago, the expanded child tax credit ended. Between 2020 and 2021, the credit — which gave monthly payments of up to $300 per child — helped reduce child poverty by more than 40 percent. More than 36 million families received the credit in 2021, and the money helped push the child poverty rate below that of adults for the first time. But since the program… Source Source / Read More: With No Child Tax Credit, Families Are Slipping Back Into Poverty Amid Inflation
More than 100,000 people urge UN states to end spyware crisis
UN member states should urgently support a halt on the sale, transfer and use of spyware to end the endemic unlawful surveillance of activists, journalists, lawyers, and political leaders, Amnesty International said today. 107, 273 people from 180 countries and territories signed the organization’s petition demanding UN member states support a global moratorium on surveillance […] The post More than 100,000 people urge UN states to end spyware crisis appeared first on Amnesty International.
2021 Had Lowest-Ever Supplemental Poverty Rate, Thanks to Stimulus Provisions
Poverty rates hit a record low by some measures in 2021, the Census Bureau found in a new report released Tuesday, thanks in large part to the direct aid provided in stimulus bills passed by Congress over the first year of the pandemic. The Census Bureau found that the poverty rate hit an all-time low of 7.8 percent last year, while the child poverty rate fell to an all-time low of 4.5 percent, according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure. The Supplemental Poverty Measure takes a more holistic view of poverty, taking into account aid provided by public programs like Social…
Sanders Slams Manchin for Swapping Paid Leave for Oil Handouts in Reconciliation
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to point out glaring problems and inadequacies with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Democratic leaders recently announced after months of negotiations with coal millionaire Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia). Warning about looming fascism and runaway capitalism in the U.S., Sanders harshly criticized Manchin and Democrats for excluding crucial provisions in the bill that were part of last year’s Build Back Better Act (BBBA), while inserting massive handouts to the fossil fuel industry in the face of a worsening climate crisis. The roughly $433 billion bill, which was crafted…
Warren Slams McConnell for Saying Labor Shortage Is Due to the Stimulus Checks
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) is facing widespread criticism for his recent assertion that the so-called labor shortage in the U.S. is the result of the stimulus checks that were sent out over a year ago. At an event in Kentucky on Tuesday, McConnell said that the $3,400 in direct aid sent out to American taxpayers over the past two years has been holding people back from working — a misleading statement in several respects, especially considering the fact that unemployment is currently quite low, with some states documenting record low unemployment over the past few months. “You’ve got…
“No Child Should Go Hungry”: Democrats Push to Extend Universal School Meals
Democrats in both chambers of Congress are urging House and Senate leadership to help extend a school lunch waiver program that’s kept millions of children from going hungry over the past two years. In a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last Friday, a group of nine Democrats led by Rep. Katie Porter (D-California) asked the Democratic leader to schedule a vote to extend waivers for school meals for this week, ahead of the program’s scheduled expiration date on June 30. “With higher food costs forcing families to stretch their budgets, free school meals can bring down costs for…
Child Hunger Has Skyrocketed Since Manchin, GOP Killed Expanded Child Tax Credit
A new analysis out Friday confirms that the number of U.S. households with kids that report not having enough food to eat has surged in the months since corporate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined Senate Republicans in refusing to extend the expanded Child Tax Credit benefit beyond mid-December. Data from the Household Pulse Survey (HPS), a nationally representative internet survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, shows that from April 27 to May 9, 15% of households with children reported food insufficiency — defined as sometimes or often not having enough food to eat in the past…
Research Finds Investment in Permanent Child Tax Credit Would Pay Off 10-Fold
New research finds that if the expanded child tax credit were made permanent, the social and economic benefits from the investment would far outweigh the costs of the program. A working paper from Columbia University, Barnard College and Open Sky Policy Institute researchers finds that if low-income families with one child saw their income increase by $1,000 a year, the benefits would outweigh the cost of the program 10-fold. While making the program permanent would cost the government $97 billion, it would create social benefits worth $982 billion. These benefits include direct impacts, like improved health and longevity for both…