Child Tax Credit Failure Reaffirms Young People鈥檚 Pessimism About Government
Students, nearly 50% of whom qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch, take in grim message as Congress kills measure that cut child poverty in half.
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Everyone鈥檚 worried about . Schools are reporting widespread mental health struggles in their post-pandemic classrooms.
鈥淧erhaps it鈥檚 the cell phones?鈥� we wonder. 鈥淎nd the TikTok?鈥�
Sure, screens 鈥� and how kids engage with them 鈥� are part of this story. And yet, and especially, America tolerates levels of child poverty compared to peer nations. because of their families鈥� low incomes. And yet, as has become custom, Congress recently missed a bipartisan opportunity to do something about this shameful, persistent American problem.
To explain this latest congressional stumble, we need some history. In 2021, the Biden administration鈥檚 American Rescue Plan cut U.S. child poverty rates by significantly expanding the . Critically, the expanded credit was administered in , giving families a steady stream of new resources instead of a once-annually infusion at tax time. As Dr. Shantel Meek and I put it in , 鈥淸M]easured against its goal, the expansion of the child tax credit is one of the great policy successes in recent memory. Few other big federal ideas have so suddenly achieved precisely what they intended.鈥�
But the measure expired after one year, and to reinstate it have floundered in Congress.
Then, this year, a bipartisan group of House representatives drafted a giving progressives a partial reinstatement of the expanded credit in return for a handful of corporate tax breaks prized by conservatives. The bill passed with in the House, but 鈥� at least partly because of conservative concerns that it might help President Biden in an election year. 鈥淚 think passing a tax bill that makes the president look good 鈥� may allow checks before the election 鈥� means that he can be reelected and then we won鈥檛 extend the 2017 tax cuts,鈥� .
Whatever else you think is causing young Americans鈥� pessimism these days, it pales in comparison with the impact of this sort of cynicism. Put aside the hand wringing about culture wars and polarization and 鈥渨oke鈥� indoctrination embedded into K鈥�12 history curricula. U.S. kids don鈥檛 distrust Congress because their schools tell them an honest account of America鈥檚 complicated past. They Congress because, when confronted with a tested policy solution to that affects their lives, elected representatives dither and find politically expedient excuses.
Make no mistake: the case for providing cash support for families with young children is empirically airtight. Researchers have known since at least that families鈥� socioeconomic resources significantly shape children鈥檚 educational performance and outcomes. that increases in family income produce better developmental, academic and life outcomes for children. As a policy matter, regular cash transfers to families like the Biden Administration鈥檚 expanded child tax credit 鈥攌nown as 鈥渃hild allowances鈥� 鈥� a to .
At this point in the waves of evidence, conservatives sometimes argue that, sure, perhaps there鈥檚 a case for investing more funding in low-income families, but only if we apply conditions and require that it be spent on particular things. Won鈥檛 families 鈥渨aste鈥� new resources unproductively? But this, too, is cynical and baseless political posturing: analysis showed that families .
And yet, here we are, stuck. Legislative failures like these are the operational definition of a failing democracy. When democracies struggle to do simple things that we know would improve citizens鈥� 鈥� especially children鈥檚 鈥� lives, they鈥檙e undermining their main institutional selling point. If representative government cannot accurately represent the public鈥檚 interest by identifying and addressing its problems, why bother with the messiness of organizing our political lives this way?
U.S. kids are not alright. But it鈥檚 not just because they鈥檙e living in an information sphere increasingly shaped by technology. Without a shift to a more pragmatic approach to these problems, that trust will only continue dropping 鈥� however well legislative sclerosis serves conservatives鈥� short-term political needs.
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Conor P. Williams is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. Previously, Williams was the founding director of New America's Dual Language Learners National Work Group. He began his career as a first-grade teacher in Brooklyn. He holds a Ph.D. in government from Georgetown University, a master鈥檚 in science for teachers from Pace University, and a B.A. in government and Spanish from Bowdoin College.
