Statement by OCPP Executive Director Alejandro Queral on proposal to expand the Child Tax Credit

A congressional deal to expand the Child Tax Credit announced yesterday would benefit some 162,000 Oregon children in the first year of the expansion alone, with more children benefiting in subsequent years. These children are from families with the lowest incomes and are currently denied access to the full amount of the federal Child Tax Credit.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, deserves much credit for his leadership in finding a bipartisan agreement that would lift from poverty 400,000 children nationwide. Senator Wyden has called the Child Tax Credit “Social Security for kids,” and he is right on that.

The power of the Child Tax Credit to improve the lives of children was made clear by the short-lived expansion of the credit in 2021. Part of the expansion involved making the credit fully available to children from the lowest-income families. This expansion was a key reason why the child poverty rate dropped by half in 2021, only to rebound the following year after the expiration of the expanded credit.

Although the recently announced deal does not go as far as the 2021 version of the Child Tax Credit, the proposed changes to the credit would benefit about 16 million children nationally in the first year of the expansion.

Given the current dynamics in Congress, this may be the last hope to strengthen the Child Tax Credit anytime soon. We urge all members of Oregon’s congressional delegation to do right by Oregon’s most vulnerable children by supporting this bipartisan deal to strengthen the Child Tax Credit.

For more information, contact: Juan Carlos Ordóñez, Communications Director, jcordonez@ocpp.org