Decades ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned about the deceptions or “clever sophistries” of politicians. “We must be as armed with knowledge as they are,” he counseled.
That’s good advice today, as lawmakers scramble to revive the Child Tax Credit that was killed by Sen. Joe Manchin, along with the rest of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Manchin and others are now engaged in the exact kind of sophistries that King warned about.
Under last year’s American Rescue Plan, lawmakers increased the Child Tax Credit received by parents and expanded eligibility to include nearly everyone but the very wealthy. It also paid families monthly instead of annually, with payments of up to $300 per child, per month.
