Senator Chuck Schumer on his visit to Jamestown Monday said the recently approved American Rescue Plan would cut the child poverty rate in half in the United States. He said an estimated 45-percent of children in Jamestown live in poverty,
“When a child is born into poverty they don’t get proper food and nutrition, they don’t get proper schooling, they don’t get proper healthcare, they don’t get proper housing, and by the time they’re a young adult their climb out of that ditch is very steep.”
Schumer said the Rescue Plan helps by expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Credit,
“Again, every family with the same income level below $75,000 for a single parent who has children, $150,000 for a couple who has child, you will get an extra $250 a month starting in July for a year per child – a little more if your child is under six.”
Child Care Council Director Sue Marker said the monthly payment helps create a more predictable income for families. Marker said a single parent family with two children on minimum wage is making about $24-thousand dollars a year,
“Food costs for that family is like $8,000. Child care for that family is almost $16,000 for 2 children in child care full time. And then you have housing which is about $8,800, which is a total of $32,700, but they’re only making $24,000.”
She said with the Child Care Tax credit, this family will get up to $7,200 more per year which gets them closer to making ends meet.
The American Relief Plan also strengthens the Earned Income Tax credit for workers without children. It is estimated that New York families will receive over $786 million in relief from the enhanced E-I-T-C.
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