The above photo is of me and my 2 older siblings, I am guessing it was taken some time in the late 80s. Growing up, money was a constant source of stress in my family. My parents got divorced when I was young, and my dad did not pay his required child support. This caused my mom to work long hours and it made it so my siblings had work every Saturday and Sunday in their teens to help get a more money to put food on the table and pay the bills. It meant that I was often left alone as a young child while everyone else worked. It meant that as soon as I started working, most of the money was going to debt we had already accumulated just to get by. The financial stress of our lives negatively impacted my mom’s health and it hurt the education of me and my siblings. The cliché rings true. Having money isn’t everything but not having it is. Today is the first day that families will start receiving their expanded child tax credit.  “The credit is $3,600 annually for children under age 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17. But six months of payments will be advanced on a monthly basis through the end of the year. This means eligible families will receive $300 monthly for each child under 6 and $250 per child older than that.”The expanded child tax credit would have been a godsend to me and my family growing up. It would have eased so much stress and would have had positive impacts that would have lasted for decades even after my and my siblings became adults.

While my siblings and I had it hard, we also had many supports systems. We had an extended family in the area on my mom’s side who helped out, Taxiarchae/Archangels Greek Orthodox Church of Watertown, and supportive neighbors. Other people don’t have those supports and they also have to deal with racism both systemic and personal. The child tax credit will be even more helpful to people who don’t have any support systems and need any little support to just have a chance.

I am so happy for all the families who will be getting to receive The Expanded Child Tax Credit. The Child Tax Credit “is projected to reduce child poverty from nearly 14 percent to 7 and a half percent—a 45 percent reduction—according to researchers at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. The payments are projected to drastically cut child poverty across racial groups, but with particularly large reductions for Black, Hispanic, and Native American children. Similar reductions are expected for the number of children living in deep poverty.” To paraphrase what then Vice President Joe Biden said to President Barack Obama about The Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare, “This is a big F****** deal”

Moreover, this is an opportunity to show good policies can be passed and work to help people. Part of people’s apathy towards politics is the idea (which is too often based on fact) that politicians talk a big game but don’t get anything done that helps people. The expanded child tax credit can be tangible evidence to prove that wrong. I am proud of Senate/House Democrats, The Biden/Harris administration, and most importantly 1000s of activists across the country for getting the expanded child tax credit past.

Unfortunate, right now the expanded child tax credit is scheduled only to last a year. Lawmakers need to now make it permanent. The work of advocates and policy makers must go on.