Chair DeLauro Statement on New Data Revealing 3.7 Million More Children in Poverty Without Monthly Child Tax Credit

Statement

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) released the following statement on data released today by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University revealing an increase of 3.7 million children in poverty in January 2022 without the monthly Child Tax Credit, the highest rate of child poverty in the United States since the end of 2020:

"Never have we seen a policy have the immediate impact on children and families that we have seen from the monthly Child Tax Credit. We have the data and the real stories to prove that these payments changed lives, gave hardworking Americans a shot at a better life. Without it, children have been thrust back into poverty at historic rates and families have been left in financial uncertainty.

"This is bigger than the politics of the moment. This is about millions of children being stuck in poverty when we know we have the answer to change it. This is about millions of hardworking parents and caretakers fighting to give their children the resources they need to succeed while their government turns a blind eye. And this is about millions of middle-class families who counted on the monthly credits to help them meet the day-to-day costs of caring for their children. We must act quickly to extend the expanded and improved monthly Child Tax Credit--the futures of millions of children depend on it."

DeLauro first introduced legislation to expand and improve the Child Tax Credit in 2003. She is the author of the American Family Act, legislation used to craft the monthly Child Tax Credit legislation passed in the American Rescue Plan.

This data follows the Baby's First Years study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences that suggests direct cash payments like the expanded and improved monthly Child Tax Credit have a positive impact on babies' brain activity.

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