Monthly cash payments could cut child poverty by nearly half, advocates say This May 4, 2021 image shows teacher Graciela Olague-Barrios working with two infants at Cuidando Los Ninos in Albuquerque, N.M. The charity provides housing, child care and financial counseling for mothers, all of whom will benefit from expanded Child Tax Credit payments that will start flowing in July to roughly 39 million households. (Source: AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan) By ASHRAF KHALIL | May 19, 2021 at 6:27 AM EDT - Updated May 19 at 6:39 AM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) The check won’t arrive until mid-July, but Katrina Peters already knows what she’ll do with her Child Tax Credit payments. The 20-year-old mother of three has applied to work as a driver with a food delivery app, and the extra cash is earmarked for repairing, registering and insuring her car.
Congressional Candidates Clash On Financial Disclosures
- Associated Press
Republican congressional candidate Mark Moores on Tuesday criticized Democratic rival Melanie Stansbury for voting in 2019 for a budget bill in the state Legislature that benefited a one-time client of her consulting practice, in a news release.
A spokeswoman for Stansbury called the criticism a baseless political attack and highlighted Moores refusal to file a disclosure about his personal finances as a U.S. House candidate. A spokesman for Moores said that this year s delayed federal tax deadlines have stood in the way of the financial disclosure requirement.
Early in-person and absentee voting is well underway ahead of the June 1 special election to fill the 1st Congressional District seat held by Deb Haaland before her confirmation as Secretary of the Interior under President Biden.
The COVID-19 relief bill passed in March includes a monthly stipend for parents ranging from the poorest to the middle class. The payments will be in place for one year starting July 15, but if successful in reducing poverty, could become a permanent part of the American safety net.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. The check won’t arrive until mid-July, but Katrina Peters already knows what she’ll do with her Child Tax Credit payments. The 20-year-old mother of three has applied to work as a driver with a food delivery app, and the extra cash is earmarked for repairing, registering and insuring her car.
“I just need to make sure it’s 100% and then I can start working and get an income,” Peters said, cradling her 3-week-old son, Armani. “That’s where it starts.”
The payments are a key part of Democrats’ COVID-19 aid bill passed in March, but for policymakers they are more than just an attempt to help families recover from the pandemic. The monthly checks of up to $300 per child for millions of families are part of an ambitious attempt to shrink child poverty and rethink the American social safety net in the process.
The expanded CTC payments, which are due to begin going out July 15, are only meant to last a year, but architects and proponents aren’t trying to hide the fact that they want to make this permanent. The coronavirus pandemic, they say, laid bare the inadequacies of America’s support system and provided the political momentum to make lasting changes.
“If implemented well, this could be transformative,” said Emma Mehrabi, director of poverty policy at the Children’s Defense Fund. “This could cut child poverty in nearly half.”
Part of the American Rescue Plan, the Child Tax Credit provisions will increase the payments and greatly expand the number of families eligible. The practical result will be direct payments for each child to families ranging from impoverished to solidly middle class $3,600 per year for children under age 6 and $3,000 per year for older children. Roughly 39 million households will receive at least partial payments, covering an estimated 88 percent