Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and increased inflation, 15% of households with children reported food insufficiency in March and April of this year. Food insufficiency — defined as when individuals sometimes or often do not have enough food to eat in the past week — poses short- and long-term moral and economic threats to the United States.
Even brief disruptions in access to food can have lasting consequences. Not having enough to eat can disrupt children’s cognitive and emotional development and education. Research has pointed to the potentially lifelong ramifications of not having enough to eat in childhood, including an increased likelihood of poor health outcomes and avoidable medical expenditures across their lifespan.
Fortunately, Congress can help. Several studies indicate that advance Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments, expanded under the American Rescue Plan Act, reduced poverty and food insufficiency in households with children. From July to December of last year, the advance CTC payments were distributed as monthly cash payments of up to $300 per child to families with children under age 17. Caregivers earning less than $200,000 as a single adult or less than $400,000 as a married couple were eligible for the benefit, meaning nearly all households with children qualified.
