Washington Post – As hard as it is to believe, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III reportedly blew up negotiations for the Build Back Better bill not over provisions to address climate change or tax proposals affecting wealthy Americans, but over the child tax credit that has lifted millions of children out of poverty. That makes even less sense considering Manchin’s home state of West Virginia is among the poorest states in the country. Read the full op-ed.
The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy reports: “Congress temporarily increased the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for more than 65 million children nationally, including 346,000 in West Virginia where it reaches 93 percent of children.” Reducing or eliminating it would amount to driving “50,000 of the lowest income children in the state below the poverty line or deeper into poverty.” (Manchin’s state ranks 47th in food security.)
Nevertheless, The Post reports: “Sen. Joe Manchin III last week made the White House a concrete counteroffer for its spending bill, saying he would accept a $1.8 trillion package that included universal prekindergarten for 10 years, an expansion of Obamacare and hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change. . . . But the West Virginia Democrat’s counteroffer excluded an extension of the expanded child tax credit the administration has seen as a cornerstone of President Biden’s economic legacy.”
