Bipartisan efforts on child tax credit afoot in House
WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of House members that’s played a role in brokering recent legislative deals plans to work on a proposal to beef up an existing tax credit for families with young children.
Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said the group is planning to launch a subcommittee to work on issues associated with the child tax credit, which currently provides up to $2,000 per child.
That’s a smaller benefit than one in place during 2021, but would be cut in half and apply to many fewer households after 2025 without congressional action.
Fitzpatrick, a Ways and Means Committee member, said the child tax credit came up during discussions about the debt limit earlier this year, as the Problem Solvers Caucus aimed to build consensus around measures that could be paired with an increase.
—CQ-Roll Call
New York colleges under pressure to end legacy admissions after Supreme Court affirmative action ruling
With the Supreme Court striking down the use of affirmative action in higher education last month, New York colleges have come under pressure to reconsider giving priority to the children of alumni in admissions decisions.
Advocates have described the practice, known as legacy admissions, as “affirmative action for the white and wealthy” — giving a boost to students who on average come from higher income families with experience navigating the college application process.
More than seven in 10 private colleges in New York consider whether applicants are related to alumni, as do more than a third of public schools, according to data compiled by Education Reform Now.
“The United States has long claimed to have an ideology of meritocracy,” said Jacquelyn Martell, executive director of the advocacy group’s New York chapter, “that you can pull yourself up by the bootstraps. That is not true.
—New York Daily News
Climate change is increasing the severity and reach of Canadian wildfires, experts say, as smoke hits Chicago again
CHICAGO — Canada is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in modern history, and experts said climate change is increasing the fires’ intensity, frequency and reach.
“Fire is inevitable and climate change will make it more common and more dangerous,” said Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, a climate researcher with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and McGill University in Quebec. “And that means more people are likely to be affected by larger and larger fires, even catastrophic ones.”
Alizadeh said there’s a direct effect on people living near places prone to burning, but there are also those affected indirectly by the smoke that can travel thousands of miles.
Last month, Chicago and several other cities in the United States were under dayslong air quality alerts due to lingering smoke. Breathing in smoke has a plethora of negative health effects. On Sunday, as wildfire smoke once again blew into the region, air quality was considered unhealthy for everyone in the Chicago area, according to AirNow, a website combining county, state and federal air quality data.
—Chicago Tribune
Biden invites Israel’s Netanyahu to meet in US as tensions rise
President Joe Biden invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet in the U.S. later this year amid strains between the two longtime allies.
Netanyahu’s office announced the invitation following a Monday call with Biden, which a White House official later confirmed. The two sides did not announce a date or location for the meeting.
The Biden administration has been reluctant to grant the traditional visit for an Israeli premier to Netanyahu, whose right-wing government has drawn criticism and public protests over changes that would weaken the independence of the judiciary.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the two leaders “had a long and warm conversation” by phone Monday that focused on bolstering the nations’ strong bond. They discussed Iran, the Palestinian areas and the prime minister’s plan to change the judiciary.
—Bloomberg News
