Mountain State Spotlight
A quarter of West Virginia’s children are living in poverty thanks in part to the actions of Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who repeatedly stymied federal legislation to extend the expanded child tax credit. The program provided monthly cash payments to families of over 300,000 kids in the state in 2021.
West Virginia’s child poverty rate last year was 25%, up from 20.7% in 2021, according to census figures released last week.
Child poverty improved in recent years due to a stronger economy and pandemic aid, including the child tax credit. Now that the aid is gone, the poverty rate returned to around the level the state has struggled with for years.
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