Michael Bennet: “the legislation we are debating today would modestly increase the size of the child tax credit while leaving out more…”

“the legislation we are debating today would modestly increase the size of the child tax credit while leaving out more than 17 million children from the full credit. America's poorest children, whose families are struggling to make ends meet, receive nothing from this bill. Everywhere I go in Colorado, I meet parents who are working hard--often two and three jobs--just to keep their family's heads above water, like Americans all across this country. They are wrestling with the legacy of 50 years of trickle-down economics that have benefited the wealthiest Americans while leaving working and middle-class families behind, which this bill does again. Today, the United States boasts one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the industrialized world. This is a moral disgrace, but we know how to end childhood poverty in this country. In 2021, we expanded the child tax credit and cut childhood poverty nearly in half and cut hunger by a quarter.”