The end of this year will mark the five-year anniversary of the tragic end of one of the most successful federal policies in recent history. Despite all the talk about affordability and the reality that too many families struggle to make ends meet, this policy success is rarely mentioned. 

Many of us have not forgotten, and we aim to apply its lessons.

That policy was the expanded federal Child Tax Credit (CTC). In 2021, as part of the response to the pandemic, Congress expanded the CTC to families previously excluded from the full benefit of the credit because they earn too little. Lawmakers also made the credit bigger and allowed families to receive a portion of their credits in monthly installments. In effect, for a brief period of time, we had a guaranteed income for families. 

The success of the expanded credit is well-documented: it helped cut child poverty nearly in half, pulling millions of children out of poverty. And thanks to data collected by the Census Bureau, we know how those dollars were being used. Here in Oregon, some nine in 10 families reported using their expanded Child Tax Credit dollars to afford the basics such as paying their rent or putting food on the table.

Despite these successes, Congress failed to make the improvements to the tax credit  permanent. As a result, at the end of 2021 the Child Tax Credit reverted to its old, less effective form. And child poverty too returned to its elevated levels, more than doubling following the expiration of the enhanced tax credit.

Last month, people from around the country traveled to Oregon for the annual Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) Conference, where organizers, researchers, basic income recipients, and advocates gathered to take stock of the movement for an income floor. It was the second time Oregon has hosted the BIG Conference since the expanded CTC expired. 

In 2022 – when BIG had been previously held in Portland – there was a sense of momentum in the movement for a guaranteed income.

In Oregon, we seized on that momentum to deliver a big win for families in the 2023 legislative session. That’s when the Oregon Center for Public Policy and over 20 partner organizations persuaded Oregon lawmakers to create the state’s first-ever child tax credit, the Oregon Kids’ Credit. 

We didn’t stop there. Earlier this year, we helped secure the largest expansion of Oregon’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in its history. As a result, this year the EITC and Oregon Kids’ Credit together will deliver $120 million to hardworking Oregon families bearing the brunt of the affordability crisis. 

Unfortunately, we’ve also seen an avalanche of destruction coming from Washington, D.C. Perhaps none is as significant as the passage of H.R. 1, which made historic cuts to food assistance and healthcare, while cutting taxes for the ultra-rich and corporations and expanding nationwide deportation efforts. The Republican Congress cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid (known as the Oregon Health Plan here in Oregon) by forcing families to jump through new layers of red tape over and over to prove they deserve to have food on the table or see their doctor.

That approach is the opposite of what we need. By contrast, a guaranteed income is — as its name says — guaranteed. It doesn’t bury families with paperwork and conditions to get help. If a family earns below a certain level, they qualify. Period. That is a key feature that makes policies like the expanded CTC effective. 

As people from around the country gathered last month for the BIG Conference, one message was clear: the time to double down on policies proven to increase economic security for our state’s families and children is now.