Two decades in the making, Rosa DeLauro's plan to cut child poverty in half is on the brink...

[DonViejo]

Two decades in the making, Rosa DeLauro’s plan to cut child poverty in half is on the brink of passing

Chabeli Carrazana
The 19th

This story was published in partnership with The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.

She knew the president’s top advisers were drafting a sweeping plan to deliver the nation from historic economic depths, and there was no way, not after an 18-year-long battle to lift millions of children from poverty, that Rosa DeLauro was going to stay out of that.

The Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut called Jared Bernstein, President Joe Biden’s longtime economic adviser, and made it clear that the plan had better include an expansion of the child tax credit to benefit the nation’s poorest families.

“In language that I might describe as ‘somewhat juicy,’ she was very emphatic about her preferences,” Bernstein told The 19th. “One of the things I give Rep. DeLauro credit for is being a relentless champion of the policy — in tough times and in more politically favorable times. She’ll never give up on this idea.”

Since 2003, DeLauro has been pushing at every opportunity for the extension of the credit, an anti-poverty measure that, if expanded, could effectively cut child poverty in half. Created in 1997, the child tax credit leaves out a third of all children from accessing the maximum benefit. And for years, DeLauro was the lone voice on the topic, before it started getting the support of other Democrats, including Sens. Sherrod Brown and Michael Bennet and Rep. Suzan DelBene. More recently, pockets of Republican support have emerged, with the child tax credit expansion getting the attention of Sens. Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio and Mike Lee.

Biden endorsed DeLauro’s plan to grow the credit to cover America’s neediest families in his presidential campaign. But she needed to see it in his coronavirus plan.

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/11/cutting-child-poverty-delauro-18-year-push-brink-passing/6704011002/

[underpants]

1. Fascinating

Thanks.