Durango – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet joined The New Yorker’s David Remnick for a discussion on the significance of the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) and his push for a permanent expansion of the CTC in the Build Back Better package.
“A little additional support of $250 or $300 a month is going to mean people are going to be able to afford a few hours of child care that they can’t afford now, they’re going to be able to fix a car when it breaks so they’re going to be able to get to their second job. I mean this is going to be really useful to the 90% of American children whose families are receiving this tax credit,” said Bennet in an interview with Remnick.
“My focus today, David, is very much on extending the Child Tax Credit…we’re fighting to make sure that we extend it,” continued Bennet. “There’s no question that our economy is transformed and so the question for us is, ‘how do we put in place a robust safety net that allows people to contribute to the economy?’”
Listen to the full interview HERE.
Bennet has championed the expansion of the CTC for years. In March 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law a one-year expansion of the CTC, based on Bennet’s American Family Act, in the American Rescue Plan Act. This expansion has the potential to cut nationwide child poverty nearly in half this year and benefit 90% of American children. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau released in August found economic hardship declined in households with children following the first payments of the expanded CTC in July. The data also shows food insufficiency dropped in households with children.
In his American Families Plan, Biden proposed permanent full refundability of the CTC, as well as extending the enhanced CTC value and monthly payments through 2025. The president also committed to working with Congress to make the full, expanded CTC permanent. Bennet and his colleagues continue to push for a permanent expansion of the CTC in the Build Back Better package.