March 9, 2021 – President Joe Biden’s Pandemic Relief Bill includes an expanded child tax credit that gives most families $ 3,600 per year for each child under the age of 6 and $ 3,000 per year for each older child, paid monthly. Social services and pediatric health experts say the benefits will lower child poverty rates and improve children’s mental and physical health with lifelong effects.
The bill, called the American Rescue Plan Act, was passed by the Senate on Saturday. The House is expected to vote on the amended bill on Wednesday. Biden’s signature is expected soon after.
The plan to expand the child tax credit, which is now $ 2,000 for every child under the age of 17, is in addition to the $ 1,400 stimulus tests anticipated by many Americans. The extended tax credit for children is only valid for one year under the provisions of the draft law. However, some policy makers are pushing for it to be permanent. In other countries, including the UK, similar plans have had a dramatic impact on child poverty, the New York Times reports.
Here’s a breakdown of the key measures in the soon-to-be-signed American rescue plan (President Biden’s new COVID relief bill): economic reviews, ACA subsidies, a huge increase in child tax credits, unemployment benefits and more … https: // t. co / wAB9qdbCaU
– GE_Miller (@GE_Miller) March 9, 2021
“The provision contained in the COVID legislation is an important policy to combat the effects of poverty on children’s health, especially as families continue to be affected by the pandemic,” says Dr. Lee Ann Savio Beers, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In an AAP statement released earlier in response to the plan, the organization noted that “the extra relief” for health and nutrition assistance “cannot come soon enough,” as many families struggle to make ends meet get.
Poverty and poor pediatric health are closely related, says Dr. Michael Grosso, chief medical officer and chairman of pediatrics at Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital in Long Island, NY. The US has an unacceptably high rate of child poverty, he says. “As a people we should be appalled.”
According to the Center for American Progress, an independent political institute, one in seven children in America, or 11 million, lives in poverty.
“Child poverty, food insecurity and toxic stress go hand in hand and affect children for a lifetime,” says Grosso. “We know that poverty affects intellectual and emotional development, especially in the early years, and is linked to persistent health problems such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and reduced life expectancy.”
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