US child poverty doubled in 2022, thanks to Joe Manchin. We must reverse course

‘Manchin reportedly refused to extend the credit because—per private comments—he believed low-income parents would spend it on drugs instead of feeding their children.’ Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Legislators are fleeing Washington, DC and heading home for the holidays. They leave behind a dysfunctional Congress with a rookie Speaker, brutal wars ongoing overseas, and a country with 11 million children living in poverty.

Yes, after a brief reprieve, child poverty is once again on the rise in the United States. But Congress can put a stop to that. As members of both houses, and both parties, work together on an end-of-year tax deal, they can re-implement a simple, wildly popular measure that has already proven to dramatically reduce child poverty: the expanded Child Tax Credit.