“For many of us, this is a season of miracles — the miracle of Jesus’ birth, the miracle of Hanukkah. But expanding the Child Tax Credit? That shouldn’t take a miracle.”
That was the opening message FCNL’s Abibat Rahman-Davies brought to lawmakers yesterday, when leaders of a powerful coalition gathered for a press conference in the heart of the Rayburn House Office Building.
The speakers—a mix of faith leaders, lawmakers, and parents—came from a wide range of backgrounds and religious traditions. But they were united by their mission: Calling on Congress to expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC), a key anti-poverty benefit, before the end of 2022.
The expanded CTC lifted millions of children out of poverty in 2021. But Congress allowed it to lapse at the end of the year just as prices for food, fuel and housing were rising, plunging many of those households right back into financial insecurity.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) echoed Abibat’s call. “Now that the expanded Child Tax Credit has lapsed and costs are rising, families are counting on us to extend that expansion once more,” said Rep. DeLauro. Sen. Brown, meanwhile, put it succinctly: “There’s nothing more important than doing this.”
After the lawmakers spoke, faith leaders and parents from Quaker, Catholic, Jewish, Evangelical, and Mormon backgrounds called on Congress to seize this moment. As FCNL General Secretary Bridget Moix put it, “Lawmakers have a moral responsibility to care for all of God’s children. Expansion of the Child Tax Credit is a golden opportunity to live up to that responsibility.”
With just days left in the 117th Congress, it’s our job to ensure that legislators live up to that responsibility. As Rep. DeLauro reminded us, Congress is an institution that responds to outside pressure—and you are that outside pressure.
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Elsewhere
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At Africa Summit, United States Seeks to Revitalize Relationships
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Oregon Lifts Death Sentences
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