WEEL Thanks Senator Baucus for His Work on Behalf of Montana Children and Families

by weel
on Fri, 02/20/2009 - 05:08

by: Layna George, Interim ED of WEEL


Layna George is the Interim Executive Director of Working for Equality and Economic Liberation.

Working for Equality and Economic Liberation (WEEL) has been deeply involved in issues of concern to low-income children and families in Montana for a decade.  When President Bush's 2001 tax cuts were pushed through Congress, WEEL saw an opportunity to help children by working with Senator Baucus, who was chair of the Finance Committee, to make the Child Tax Credit fully refundable.  Senator Baucus listened to our members, primarily low-income women in Montana, and other organizations, and he helped include the partially refunded CTC that we have now in the President's tax cut package.  Building on that work, WEEL also brought Senator Baucus several poverty reduction proposals that came directly from our members and he was able to include them in the welfare bill that was passed out of the Finance Committee in 2002.

Once again Senator Baucus is helping low-income families by strengthening the Child Tax Credit that he originally helped pass. Due to hard work by many Senators, including Montana's own Senator Baucus, the Child Tax Credit provision in the economic recovery package is much stronger than the version initially approved by the Senate.  Here is how the provision is described in a Conference Report summary document distributed by Speaker Pelosi's office on Thursday:

Cuts taxes for the families of millions of children through an expansion of the child tax credit (allowing families to begin qualifying for the child tax credit with every dollar earned over $3,000).

A new analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities illustrates exactly how beneficial this provision will be for children and families:  
Under the agreement, the child credit will reach 2.9 million new children and will provide another 10 million children with a larger credit than they would have received under the 2008 rules.
By targeting more stimulus money to low-income families that are likely to spend it, the expanded child credit helps to advance the recovery package's fundamental goal - providing effective economic stimulus.  Roughly 90 percent of the benefits of this provision will go to the bottom fifth of Americans.

On behalf of Working for Equality and Economic Liberation, I'd like to offer our sincere appreciation of Senator Baucus' work to ensure that a strong Child Tax Credit provision was included in the final version of the bill.