Request for Action on Child Poverty Reduction Act
The United States ranks 38th of 40th first world countries in reducing child poverty and poverty in our country has increased during COVID. The high level of child poverty, its impact on adult outcomes, the huge public costs of remediation, and reduction in GDP have been recognized by many public health studies. These studies have led to several bipartisan federal proposals in the last several years to reduce poverty. Unfortunately, these legislative proposals have languished in the US Congress.
The American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA, signed into law in March 2021, included one of the proposed methods to reduce poverty, notably direct monthly payments to families with children. The Child Tax Credit piece of the Build Back Better program resulted in a 30% reduction in child poverty during the six months of payments ending in December, 2021. After the end of the payments, child poverty increased by 41%.
This successful demonstration of direct payments to families with children has resulted in a national drive to move existing federal legislation to congressional debate in hopes of finding a viable cost saving solution to child poverty and moving our country toward improved support for families with children.
One of the many organizations supporting moving this legislation forward is the First Focus End Child Poverty Campaign. The goal of the campaign is to “urge Congress to pass the Child Poverty Reduction Act (S. 643/H.R. 1558) and establish a national child poverty reduction target in the United States.” There are now over 190 organizations in the U.S. dedicated to reducing child poverty and supporting the First Focus initiative.
First Focus is asking all citizens interested in supporting the Child Poverty Reduction Act to contact your congress representatives using their link: https://action.campaignforchil...dpovertyreductionact
If you wish to directly contact federal representatives by phone or letter their congressional representatives to support the Child Poverty Reduction Act. You may find your federal representatives here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
More information on the First Focus Campaign may be found here:
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