Originally published by CT News Junkie —
With President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation halted in the U.S. Senate, Connecticut Democrats hoped to drum up support Monday by highlighting the bill’s extension of a recently-expired monthly tax credit for families with children.
“I think the outcry you’re going to hear from people — when they checked their bank accounts this January, they found out they were on average about $400 fewer for a tax credit that had been enormously successful in lifting children out of poverty,” U.S. Rep. John Larson said during a morning press conference. “It’s those kinds of questions … that motivate people to vote.”
Larson appeared with Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and labor union leaders to tout the impact of the pandemic-era expansion to the child tax credit, which expired in December. The American Rescue Plan Act expanded an existing tax credit and distributed the money on a monthly basis rather than through annual tax returns. Since July, the policy has sent monthly payments of between $250 and $300 to the parents of qualifying families.