As families continue to struggle with bills, rent, and childcare amid the global pandemic, President Biden and Congress stepped in to provide some support.

Biden’s COVID relief package, the American Rescue Plan, includes a Child Tax Credit -- monthly checks to parents of $300 for children under 6, and $250 for children age 6-17. Biden’s plan treats low- and middle-income kids equally -- except for those in families with the highest incomes, every child of a given age gets the same amount.

Ninety percent of families with children would benefit from the program, and implementing it will cut the country's child poverty rate IN HALF over the next year.

This tax credit, however, is temporary and will expire in one year.

If made permanent, a Child Tax Credit could begin a new era in the fight against child poverty in the United States, using federal dollars to lift millions of families out of poverty. We can be the generation of Americans that made child poverty a shadow of its former self.

U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro, Suzan DelBene, and Ritchie Torres reintroduced the American Family Act, legislation that will permanently establish the Child Tax Credit monthly payments and continue to ensure a reduction in child poverty. The American Family Act could permanently raise millions of children out of poverty.

The coronavirus has exposed serious inequities which have always existed, particularly as it relates to communities of color. Congress has a real opportunity to address these inequities and lift children out of poverty.

Sign the petition: Demand Congress pass the American Family Act and immediately address child poverty.