A new analysis has been released Friday confirms The U.S. has a large number of households that have children and report not having enough food. surged In the months since corporate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia joined Senate Republicans in refusing the extended Child Tax Credit benefit beyond mid-2018,
Data from the Household Pulse Survey – (HPS), a nationally representative online survey conducted by U.S. Census Bureau shows that from April 27 to May 9, 15% of households with children reported food insufficiency — defined as sometimes or often not having enough food to eat in the past week. Early August saw a drop in the number of families with children reporting hunger. was About 9.5%
A handful of corporate grocery giants, as well as meat, egg, or dairy conglomerates, have made food more expensive in recent months. raised prices While cutting frontline worker pay, and raking back record profits Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. But Manchin and the GOP’s decision to allow the enhanced CTC benefit to expire at the end of last year is making it even harder for millions of families to make ends meet.
Right-wing legislators let the enlarged CTC expire despite ample evidence that it was popular. improved The lives of children across the country. In January, the first month since July 2021 that eligible families didn’t receive a monthly payment of up to $300 per child, 3.7 million kids were thrown into poverty.
In a guest blog post published Friday by the Economic Policy Insitute, Julia Raifman, assistant professor at Boston University School of Public Health, and Allison Bovell-Ammon, director of policy strategy for Children’s HealthWatch at Boston Medical Center, wrote:
Prior work with HPS data revealed that the advance CTC was associated with a 26% decrease in food insufficiency Comparatively, households with children and households without children. These results were consistent with other researchers’ findings, which found that advance CTC was associated a 25% decline in poverty And improved dietary quality For children.
A new preprint using HPS data shows that expiration of advance CTC was associated to a 12% increase in food insufficiency in households with children relative to households without children by February — And rates of food insufficiency continued to climb since February.
“While HPS data are not directly comparable to data collected prior to the pandemic,” Raifman and Bovell-Ammon noted, “rates of food insufficiency in March–April 2022 were about three to four times pre-pandemic levels.”
“Food insufficiency among families with children poses a short- and long-term moral and economic threat to the United States,” they wrote. “Even brief disruptions in access to food can have lasting consequences.”
The pair continued: “Not having enough to eat often disrupts children’s cognitive and emotional development and education. This was the case with a child who revealed that her fidgeting was the reason she wasn’t paying attention in class. she did not have enough food to eat. Insufficient food as a child may have lasting consequences. poor health Avoidable outcomes medical expenditures across the lifespan.”
Despite Manchin’s baseless and dehumanizing claim that parents would use federal cash to buy drugs, Raifman and Bovell-Ammon pointed out that several analyses “indicate families with low incomes overwhelmingly used advance CTC payments on basic needs For childrenYou can also get food, rent, utilities, and clothing. There is also no evidence suggesting a reduction in employment among parents in families receiving CTC payments.”
It’s not too late, Raifman and Bovell-Ammon stressed, for Manchin and the GOP to change course.
“As Congress turns its attention to the next reconciliation package, there is an opportunity to reinstate the expanded CTC monthly payments,” the pair wrote. “Amidst continued inflation, rising food insufficiency in households with children, and the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to affect work, health, and the economy, continuation of the advance CTC payments could help children avoid food insufficiency, with immediate and lifelong personal and societal benefits.”
“The most recent wave of HPS data,” Raifman and Bovell-Ammon noted, “show that food insufficiency is concentrated in the lowest-income households with children.”
“Implementing an expanded CTC without exclusions due to work or immigration status will best reach children in families with the greatest need, to the benefit of all children and society,” they added. “While some policymakers have considered work requirements to receive CTC benefits, such requirements carry an administrative burden Families and states that frequently prevents They are the ones who need them most. negative outcomes.”
