ZERO TO THREE applauds House passage of legislation to expand the Child Tax Credit and Urges Senate to act immediately.
Contact: Gina Davis
202-864-2934
gdavis@zerotothree.org
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Miriam Calderón, Chief Policy Officer at ZERO TO THREE, issued the following statement in response to House passage of legislation to expand the federal Child Tax Credit (CTC).
“We commend the bipartisan effort to prioritize our nation’s families by expanding the Child Tax Credit in the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. This expansion will help improve economic conditions for more lower- income families, including nearly 3 million infants and toddlers, to help ensure kids have what they need to thrive. We urge the Senate to act fast to get this to the President’s desk.
Investing in young children and families during their critical early years of brain development is a moral imperative with proven economic benefits for all. We applaud the members of Congress who insisted any tax deal that invested in corporations also had to invest in families. Many babies in America, especially Black, Latine and Native American babies, live with low income and startling numbers of babies live in deep poverty, as the successful pandemic-era Child Tax Credit expansion showed. Poverty hurts babies’ development during the most critical early years of rapid brain growth, often leading to developmental gaps that carry troubling implications including for their long-term success in school and as adults. Congress must continue to work on expanding this policy to make it truly child-centered, including families without earnings and more immigrant children.”
Learn more about the Enhanced, Fully Refundable Child Tax Credit.
