According to the Census Bureau, after the expansion of the child tax credit and other provisions in the COVID relief packages of 2020-2021 caused a historic decline in the child poverty rate to only 5.2%, the expiration of those programs more than doubled the child poverty rate to 12.4% in 2022, returning it to pre-pandemic levels.

This was no accident. In December 2021, Congress failed to extend the federal child tax credit, which was included in the COVID relief packages of 2020-2021 and that had lifted nearly 4 million children out of poverty—despite President Biden and most Democrats in Congress supporting an extension. Subsequent legislative attempts to restore it have since stalled.

When the expanded child tax credit was in effect, surveys showed that families overwhelmingly used the money on basic necessities like food, housing and utilities—and some were even able to start planning for emergencies. For the first time in our history, child poverty dropped below 10%, reaching an historic low of only 1 child in 20 living in poverty in 2021.

There is a movement to restore the child tax credit. “When we expanded the Child Tax Credit," said Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), "we demonstrated that we don’t have to accept one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the industrialized world as a permanent feature of our democracy. [The Census data shows that] we never should have let it expire."

Sign the petition to Congress: Fight child poverty. Restore the federal child tax credit, and return the child poverty rate to historic lows.