It was once a unifying policy for Democrats.
But now, child tax credits are at the center of an increasingly bitter budget fight on Capitol Hill, a battle that will have profound implications for the millions of poor families in Harris County and Texas.
At issue are child tax credits that were expanded in March as part of the latest federal COVID-19 stimulus package.
The legislation upped the per-child credits from $2,000 to $3,600 per child under age 6 and from $2,000 to $3,000 for children older than 6.
The expansion also allowed families to receive some of the money in direct, monthly installments.
And, per Columbia University researchers, it also helped raise millions of children out of poverty just as the delta variant began to overwhelm hospitals, shutter businesses and, yet again, push millions of Americans into unemployment seemingly overnight.
About 1 in 6 American children live in poverty — one of the highest rates among all developed nations — and so it makes sense the widespread use and popularity of the child tax credit expansion.
In the four months since the program was opened, more than $61 billion has been allocated to American families in need, according to a report released last week by the U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service.
Texans have received about one-tenth of that money, with about $6.2 billion paid through roughly 3,600 credits — an average of roughly $444 per month, per child, according to the report.
Now, with the extension set to sunset at year’s end, child tax credits are among a handful of policies that have left Congressional Democrats at an impasse as they try to pass an ambitious, budget bill of around $2 trillion that would, among things, extend the credits through 2025.
The budget proposal, once pegged at $3.5 trillion, is being scaled back to win over two moderate Democrats — West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema. With united Republican opposition, Democratic leaders need support from both to pass the bill in the evenly divided Senate.
President Joe Biden is reportedly considering extending the child tax credit expansion for just one year as a compromise to satisfy moderates. Manchin has proposed means-testing the program, which would shrink the number of eligible children by an estimated 37 million. Regardless of how the standoff shakes out, it will have real consequences for millions of low-income people in Texas and Harris County, where roughly 1 in 5 children live in poverty.
“That is hundreds of thousands of children in Harris County, one of the most prosperous counties in the most prosperous country in the world,” County Judge Lina Hidalgo said this week.
Texas was one of two dozen states that opted to end other COVID relief programs before they were set to expire in September. The move was favored by Republicans and some businesses who argued that the programs were keeping people out of the workforce — claims that have been questioned by economists and poverty researchers.
No wonder, then, that Harris County leaders have gone on the offensive while they can.
Last week, county commissioners approved $500,000 to fund outreach efforts to low-income families who may qualify for the child tax credits, but have been unable to navigate an application process that some have decried as confusing and arbitrary.
Hidalgo said the outreach efforts are part of a broader “paradigm shift” in poverty prevention.
Parents seeking the credits still have until Nov. 15 to apply for the program.
What happens after that? All bets are off — and all eyes are on two senators who can turn into reality what was once a Democratic Party pipedream.
robert.downen@chron.com
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