Bennet Statement on 3.7 Million Children Plunged Back Into Poverty Following Expiration of Monthly Child Tax Credit

Press Release

Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement after Columbia University researchers published an analysis estimating that 3.7 million more children are living in poverty without the monthly Child Tax Credit:

"Over the last two decades, Congress has enacted $8 trillion in tax cuts, almost all of which have gone to the wealthiest people in this country. And each time those tax cuts have approached expiration, I've witnessed Congress go to great lengths to extend them.

"But when the biggest tax cut for working families in modern American history was on the line in December, Congress went home. We let a lifeline for tens of millions of children disappear, while we allowed the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy to endure.

"And now, as we predicted, nearly four million kids have been plunged back into poverty -- in the middle of a pandemic that has already taken so much from them.

"This should be a wake-up call for Congress and the White House to come together and find a way forward on the Child Tax Credit. We must not turn our backs on America's children."

CENTER ON POVERTY AND SOCIAL POLICY ANALYSIS:

The 4.9 percentage point (41 percent) increase in poverty represents 3.7 million more children in poverty due to the expiration of the monthly Child Tax Credit payments.
The monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent in January 2022, the highest rate since the end of 2020.
Latino and Black children experienced the largest percentage-point increases in poverty (7.1 percentage points and 5.9 percentage points, respectively).

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