Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Dear PSA Director,

In August, Congress passed a budget resolution, which laid the framework for the final recovery bill. Now, Congress is debating whether to extend the enhanced and fully refundable Child Tax Credit (CTC) past this year, and 448 U.S. economists have come out in support of them doing so.

In an open letter to Congressional leaders, the 448 economists — including several Nobel Prize laureates in economics — write that there is robust research indicating the expanded CTC “can dramatically improve the lives of millions of children growing up in the United States and promote our country’s long-term economic prosperity” by reducing child poverty.

The CTC was changed in two key ways in 2021 as part of the government’s American Rescue Plan: It was increased from $2,000 to as much as $3,600, and it was made fully refundable, meaning even the lowest-income Americans can receive it. Eligible families began receiving the first of six monthly payments in July, with last payments to be made in December 2021. These changes have been especially beneficial for low-income families over the past three months. Food insecurity dropped significantly after the first payment, as many families used their checks to buy groceries. Others bought school supplies and clothes, and paid utility bills, Census data showed.

Learn more about the Child Tax Credit by our visiting website here.

Please help by placing this PSA in heavy rotation between now and Wednesday, October 27, 2021. Thank you in advance for your support.

Diane Randall
General Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation
A nonpartisan Quaker  nonprofit  that lobbies for peace, justice, and environmental stewardship.

:30 PSA SCRIPT

MANY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS HAVE SIGNALED SUPPORT FOR PERMANENTLY EXPANDING THE CHILD TAX CREDIT. A RECENT ANALYSIS FOUND THAT EXPANDING THE CREDIT THROUGH TWENTY TWENTY-FIVE WOULD GREATLY REDUCE CHILD POVERTY. RESEARCH HAS ALSO SHOWN THAT REDUCING CHILD POVERTY WILL HAVE LASTING POSITIVE EFFECTS FOR LOW-INCOME CHILDREN. EXPANDING THE C-T-C WOULD DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE THE LIVES OF MILLIONS OF CHILDREN. TELL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS THAT THE CHILD TAX CREDIT NEEDS TO BE PERMANENTLY EXPANDED. TO LEARN MORE VISIT F-C-N-L DOT ORG SLASH CHILD.