Statement from Citizens’ Committee for Children on Passage of the American Rescue Plan


Press Releases

March 10, 2021

For Immediate Release: March 10, 2021

 

The following statement can be attributed to Jennifer March, executive director of Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York (CCC):

“We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration, Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi for their stewardship and leadership in securing passage of the American Rescue Plan.

Across America, children and families have faced a year like no other. They have experienced the loss of loved ones, ongoing threats to public health, social isolation, disruption in work and education and skyrocketing behavioral health needs — all while their access to sorely needed economic, food and housing supports were constrained as state and municipal coffers plummeted.

The American Rescue Plan sets the country on the course to recovery, as it invests in the American people and in states and municipalities. The Plan’s bold vision will help states and municipalities not only manage the current fiscal crisis, but also provide the financial wherewithal to meet people’s needs for child care and early learning, education, health and mental health care, housing and nutrition assistance, as well as child welfare and social services. Funding is also provided to states to aid in COVID testing, as well as vaccine distribution and take up. The range of policy areas the Plan invests in suggest a comprehensive acknowledgement of the profound and sobering impact that this past year of crises has had on children, families and communities.

Importantly, the plan also reforms the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit, and creates a child allowance through Child Tax Credit reforms. These bold tax policy initiatives will have a transformative impact on the county’s ability to eradicate poverty, as they dramatically lift household incomes and reduce child poverty, and they must be made permanent.

Today, the future of our children looks brighter and recovery for children, families, and communities is in sight.”

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