Nourish Our Future: The Child Tax Credit

On May 4, during Fellow-sip time following worship, we will have an opportunity to write our Senators and Representatives, encouraging them to take steps to combat childhood hunger in our country and around the world. Following the lead of Bread for the World’s Nourish Our Future campaign, we will focus on four initiatives: 1) expanding the Child Tax Credit; 2) fully funding and modernizing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); 3) addressing food insecurity on college campuses; and 4) providing robust funding for international nutrition programs. Over the next few Thursdays I will offer some background information about each of these areas of concern.

Today the topic is the Child Tax Credit. The following comes from Bread for the World’s web site (bread.org), in an article titled, “Improving Child Nutrition at Home and Abroad.”

“[A] proven policy tool for reducing child poverty and hunger is the child tax credit (CTC). The CTC has strong bipartisan support and was previously expanded under Republican and Democrat congressional majorities, most recently in 2017 and 2021, respectively. The 2021 expanded CTC significantly reduced child hunger and led to a 50 percent reduction in childhood poverty—a record one-year decline. By extending the full benefit to the lowest income families and allowing families to receive the benefit in monthly payments, the expanded credit allowed millions of households to afford more consistent, nutritious meals for their children.

“In 2024, Bread welcomed the House of Representatives’ passage of a child tax credit expansion included in the bipartisan, bicameral Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to move the legislation forward. In the first year, the expansion would have benefited 16 million children, including nearly 3 million kids under the age of three. It was also projected to lift 400,000 children out of poverty.

“The clear, data-backed success of expanding the CTC emphasizes how targeted financial policies can directly reduce childhood hunger. Bread for the World continues to urge Congress to expand the child tax credit as a proven step toward prioritizing the reduction of child poverty and hunger.”

In our current political climate, it may seem like a long shot to get an expansion of the CTC, but we know that we serve a God who specializes in long shots. Abraham was a long shot. Moses was a long shot. Even Jesus, born into poverty in a backwater town on the frontier of the Roman Empire, could have been considered a long shot. But he came through, and he continues to come through in our world today. That’s what gives me the confidence to encourage my legislators to do the right thing. With God all things are possible. Even in Congress.