A Historic Win for Kids
Earlier this month, President Biden signed into law his American Rescue Plan – a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan that aims to “change the course of the pandemic and deliver immediate relief for American workers.” This monumental bill is touted by many as the most far-reaching anti-poverty legislation enacted in more than 50 years. The American Rescue Plan actually is much more: it is the single largest investment made to improve the lives of kids, and its recognition of government having a supportive role in kids’ lives is unprecedented. Let’s celebrate this historic win for kids, and capitalize on this momentum to build an overall, comprehensive plan to raise the priority of children and young people in our country.
Much has been said about the American Rescue Plan’s policy initiatives that will address our nation’s poverty rate. Millions of kids and their families will be lifted from poverty through the additional $1,400 stimulus check and the updated Child Tax Credit—which increases from $2,000 to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for a child under age 6) and the addition of 17-year-olds as qualifying children.
The Child Tax Credit in this bill temporarily creates a child allowance for the vast majority of Americans and in doing so, cuts our nation’s current child poverty rate in half in 2021 alone. This is extraordinary. Child advocates and policy makers have long known how to address child poverty—and now, perhaps with a unique opportunity presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic, we finally had the courage to act.
What is more extraordinary, however, is that because the Child Tax Credit is non-refundable and does not have an earnings floor, it will now benefit more than 90 percent of children in the U.S. Importantly, the credit is flexible and paid out monthly with limited government intervention on how it can be used. This recognition of all that contributes to a child’s health and well-being, whether it be diapers, daycare (or a babysitter), clothing, or piano lessons is significant, and a family’s prerogative to choose how their funds are spent, is critically important. Significantly, Jason DeParle notes that the refundable tax credits that form a universal income program for children, thus create a “revolutionary way for the U.S. government to regard its relationship with kids.”
It may be revolutionary (for us), but child allowance programs are not unique. The majority of wealthy countries, including most in Western Europe as well as Australia, the Netherlands, and Belgium, provide child subsidies and other assistance programs for families with children. As Dr. Starsky Wilson, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, recently shared, these governments communicate that “the well-being of a child is so important to the future of the nation that you will get an allowance for having a child.” Not coincidentally, children fare far better in these countries—their governments recognize they have a role in caring for their youngest citizens and the children grow up in societies who believe they have a collective responsibility for their well-being. In comparison, as I’ve written previously, UNICEF Innocenti’s 2020 Report Card 16—Worlds of Influence: Understanding What Shapes Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries, ranked the United States 37th of 41 countries in child poverty and second from the bottom when comparing scores of children’s well-being. There is clearly a disconnect between how we articulate the value and priority of our children and young people and how we care for them, and the passage of the American Rescue Act is the first step toward righting this moral discord.
Additional components of the bill are legislative actions that will:
Keep children from being homeless by providing emergency aid for back rent and financial assistance through the Homeowners Assistance Fund to help with mortgage payments and utility costs
Ensure children are not hungry or food insecure by increasing the value of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by 15 percent through September 2021
Provide high-quality, safe, nurturing environments for children while their parents are at work through the expansion of childcare assistance and by increasing and expanding tax credits to help cover the cost of childcare, including a refundable tax credit
Support children and families by providing funds for states to cover additional cash assistance for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), extending unemployment insurance benefits and eligibility, and increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit
Enable children and families to access affordable healthcare by lowering or eliminating health insurance premiums for the health insurance marketplace (Obamacare) and by providing subsidies for continuation health coverage (COBRA) premiums
Although they are less likely to become seriously ill by coronavirus itself, all of our children and young people have been deeply impacted by the pandemic. For more than a year, millions of children have been forced to learn from home, social distance from their friends and extended family, limit their extracurricular activities, and reimagine new ways to communicate, interact, learn, and play with others. As a country, we do not think about kids early or often enough, and the ongoing debate between reopening for in-person learning and distance learning is an important reflection of this.
In addition to the $28 billion allocated for COVID vaccine development, rollout, and distribution, the American Rescue Plan includes $130 billion to help get K-12 kids safely back to school and to address the learning loss and social/emotional needs of children disproportionally impacted by the pandemic, including students of color, English learners, and students with disabilities. Reopening schools for full-time, in-person learning has been framed as the lynchpin for our nation’s economic recovery, but this legislation centers the needs of kids—their safety, education, mental health, and well-being—and encourages the decision-makers to start making decisions with kids’ best interests in mind.
This is truly a landmark opportunity for all of us who care about kids to celebrate: we are in a moment that has been building for nearly 20 years and has culminated in the single largest piece of legislation enacted on behalf of children and young people. It is important to note, however, that while wonderful, The American Recovery Act only makes a one-year investment. Now is the time to enact the American Family Act House bill introduced by Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), and Suzan Delbene (D-WA), and the Senate companion bill led by Senators Mike Bennet (D-CO) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), that will make the increased, fully refundable Child Tax Credit a permanent investment in children. This act solidifies and makes permanent our commitment to improve the lives of kids in the U.S., while recognizing the government as a productive partner to provide resources that help families raise their children.
CDF’s Dr. Wilson recently commented that as a nation, we “pride ourselves on being beacons of moral authority, but we are in a moral crisis when it comes to how we care for young people.” The COVID pandemic has afforded us a unique opportunity to rethink policy implementation, and the American Rescue Plan is a tangible demonstration of our commitment to the well-being of our kids—and recognition that government has a role in improving their lives.
How can we use this momentum to continue to invest in children and young people? Let’s think collectively, act responsibly, and hold our leaders accountable.