Child poverty skyrocketed last year, thanks to GOP and Joe Manchin

The U.S. Census Bureau says that child poverty in this nation skyrocketed last year. Child poverty rates in 2021 had reached an all-time low of 5.2%. In 2022, however, that number soared to 12.4%.

The reasons child poverty in the United States more than doubled in a single year are not disputed. It’s because of the expiration of the Republican-hated expanded child tax credit and the shift away from providing direct monthly payments to at-risk families.

The Washington Post:

“By far this is the largest annual increase in U.S. history for both children and the overall population in terms of poverty, going back to 1967,” said Zachary Parolin, a senior research fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. “In 2021 we had the lowest child poverty rate on record, largely due to the expansion of the child tax credit. It worked in reducing poverty; it worked in making life better for people. Then it expired, and Congress did not renew it. And now we are seeing the largest increase in child poverty in U.S. history. We are back to around where we were pre-pandemic.”

Also The Washington Post, same story:

Tuesday’s Census release is “a story of what could have been,” said Arloc Sherman, vice president for data analysis and research at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “The pandemic showed that we could stand up policies that could help families. These numbers underscore how much poverty is a policy choice.”

So there you go. We discovered a way to slash the number of children in poverty by over half, quick and simple. Then we stopped because Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin demanded we stop. It won’t be enacted again so long as the same pro-coup Republicans are in control of the House and can stop it.

It’s because they don't care. There's no larger story there. We know how to lift children out of poverty. It's cheap and straightforward. But the people huffing and puffing for fossil fuel companies to get better tax treatment and for rich people to always pay less in tax each year than they did the year before do. Not. Care. They’ve never cared. They pride themselves on not caring. They go to church and quote from Bibles and will tell you up, down, and sideways how truly offensive it would be to feed children when the nation’s richest people could instead buy slightly larger private jets.

In a statement, President Joe Biden said, "Today's Census report shows the dire consequences of congressional Republicans' refusal to extend the enhanced Child Tax Credit, even as they advance costly corporate tax cuts. ... The rise reported today in child poverty is no accident—it is the result of a deliberate policy choice congressional Republicans made." That statement ignores Manchin's role in sabotaging the program, but it's true Manchin wouldn't be in that position if there were any Republicans in the Senate who have a flying damn about anything but the lobbyist class.

We can't spoil grade-schoolers by letting them eat, not when there are new defense contracts to be had and oil companies are practically withering away with the expense of having to pay a pittance to drill on public land.

"I will continue to fight to restore the expanded Child Tax Credits to give tens of millions of families the tax relief and breathing room they deserve," said Biden. This is the sort of statement that should make decent people curl up and die, because having to "fight" for a relatively cheap, obviously helpful program makes us sound like a garbage country filled with dirtbags rather than whomever your average flag-waver imagines themselves to be when they're watching Fox News or attending their little Trump rallies.

We could fix this tomorrow if we wanted. A couple of votes and a signature are all it takes. Republicans aren't going to do that, because they don't give a shit. They’d rather impeach Biden in retaliation for their guy getting indicted. They’d rather strip federal funds from those investigating Donald Trump. And then these assholes, almost every one of them, strolls into church on Sunday and claims to be better than everyone else.

We have seen this too many times, and we know exactly how it plays out. The cruelty is the point, and it's always been the point, and it's not going to change anytime soon because the more vicious politicians can be toward poor children, the more the conservative base giggles and waves their cheap imported flags.

Sign the petition: Child poverty has doubled. Bring back the child tax credit

Kerry talks with Drew Linzer, director of the online polling company Civiqs. Drew tells us what the polls say about voters’ feelings toward President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and what the results would be if the two men were to, say … run against each other for president in 2024. Oh yeah, Drew polled to find out who thinks Donald Trump is guilty of the crimes he’s been indicted for, and whether or not he should see the inside of a jail cell.

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Raising the minimum wage isn’t just about money—it’s about mental health, workers say

Precious Cole moved to Durham, North Carolina, after breaking down on a phone call to her mother. She was struggling mentally, emotionally, and financially; to Cole, these three things were inextricably linked. Cole was working a fast food job and was homeless, only eating on the days she went to work. Her meager paycheck did little more than allow her to sporadically rent motel rooms so she could shower and have a roof over her head for a few hours at a time.

“I called my mother crying and pleading and she said, ‘Get on the bus, you’re coming here,’” Cole told Prism. That was two years ago. Now, at the age of 33, Cole has worked low-wage jobs in the fast food industry for nearly half her life. At the start of the pandemic, she was working two jobs just to make ends meet. Now she works full time at a Wendy’s in Durham, North Carolina. Because of her previous experience and her current role as a shift supervisor, she says she makes significantly more than her coworkers, but it’s still not enough to pay all her bills and put gas in her car so she can get to work each day. Her job is grueling and her days are long. Sometimes she works until 2:30 AM and has just a few hours to decompress and sleep before returning to work. The COVID-19 crisis has compounded her exhaustion and heightened her stress. The other day, she said, an irate customer threw lemonade in her face.

“There has been all of this talk about ‘front-line workers’ and ‘essential workers,’ whatever people want to call us to make them feel better about themselves. But we don’t feel appreciated and we aren’t being treated like we are appreciated,” Cole said. “We are risking our lives and risking the lives and health of our family members and for what? To get paid next to nothing and so that y’all can eat at restaurants? People claim we are essential and I want them to show us that we are.”

Cole is a member of the Durham, North Carolina, branch of Fight for $15 called NC Raise Up that began in 2013 and represents a variety of low-wage workers, including fast food workers, gas station workers, dollar store workers, retail workers, and others advocating for an increased minimum wage. She joined during the summer last year after a COVID-19 outbreak at work was mishandled by management, forcing all of the employees to quarantine without pay. A coworker who was already part of the Fight for $15 movement told Cole it was time to make their voices heard and hold multibillion dollar companies accountable. The experience has been empowering, she told Prism, and one of her primary motivators for joining the fight is to bring awareness to another crisis engulfing low-wage workers. 

During the pandemic, low-wage workers risk their health and their lives to financially survive, but humming alongside COVID-19 anxieties are mental health issues directly linked to living below the poverty line.

“Everyone in these jobs is just basically surviving and when you are just surviving, your mental health is not the best,” Cole said. “The bills adding up just brings so much stress; you never have enough and then you add to that the fear that you will bring this virus home to your family. We are risking it all for a paycheck. Sometimes it’s too much and I just sit and cry. I try to be the happy shift supervisor at work that makes people laugh, but other times I feel like I walk in with a look on my face and they can tell something is wrong.”

Low-wage workers have spent nearly a decade fighting for an increased minimum wage and with a new White House administration, along with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, $15 an hour seems more possible than ever. However, Friday presented a setback. Senate lawmakers supported President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, but dismissed a measure that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The need for an increased federal minimum wage has always been immediate, and the economic benefits of raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour are well documented—from reducing unemployment and generating $107 billion in higher wages to lifting the wages of nearly 40% of Black workers and helping to reduce the racial wage gap. However, what is not discussed enough is how putting more money in workers’ pockets could take significant steps toward alleviating anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.

Poverty is one of the most significant social determinants of health and mental health, the Psychiatric Times reported, and women of color experience poverty in disproportionate numbers—this is especially true among women of color low-wage workers.

According to a 2018 report from the Congressional Research Service, 56% of poor people were women. While the largest share of all people in poverty were non-Hispanic white at 41.2%, the majority were not. Almost all other racial and ethnic groups were overrepresented among the poor relative to their prevalence in the overall population. The majority of people in poverty were working-age adults ages 18-64, more than 77% of whom were working and still in poverty.

A 25-year observational study published last year explored whether minimum wage policies had an impact on the rate of people who die by suicide, which can be caused by financial stressors such as job loss, financial hardships, or debt. Researchers found that a $1 increase in the minimum wage resulted in an estimated 3.4% to 5.9% decrease in suicide rates among adults ages 18 to 64, and a $2 increase could have prevented an estimated 40,000 suicides alone between 2009 and 2015.

Cole says while a $15 federal minimum wage would make a significant impact, she knows it doesn’t go far enough to cover even basic necessities like housing, child care, food, transportation, and health care. Still, she said it’s a “good start” that could help alleviate some of the overwhelming financial stress that burdens workers’ lives.

“They say money can’t buy happiness, but it kind of can. There were days where I really thought about stepping into traffic because I thought it would be easier; because I wouldn’t have any more worries or stress and I wouldn’t have to think about where my next meal was coming from,” Cole said. “Mental health is the number one reason I’m in this fight, but I’m not going to pretend like the money isn’t important. Black people make less than white people and women make less than men, so imagine my circumstances as an African American woman.”

Cole also pushes against the narrative that everyday workers should simply work to survive. She told Prism she’s fighting for a world where women like her can buy things they want; not just things they need. Where women like her can go on trips because they want joy and relaxation. Life is about more than stress and financial strain; it’s about more than balancing checkbooks and trying to figure out how much money she has to survive off until payday, she said.

“What people need to understand is that what we are asking for is base level. Right now, working people don’t even have basic needs met. They can’t afford to live; they can’t afford to eat. People are falling apart,” Cole said. “I know we’re going to get $15, it’s just a matter of when. When we do get it, we are still going to organize and have our voices heard because there’s a lot more to fight for.”

Tina Vasquez is a senior reporter for Prism. She covers gender justice, workers’ rights, and immigration. Follow her on Twitter @TheTinaVasquez.

Prism is a BIPOC-led nonprofit news outlet that centers the people, places and issues currently underreported by our national media. Through our original reporting, analysis, and commentary, we challenge dominant, toxic narratives perpetuated by the mainstream press and work to build a full and accurate record of what’s happening in our democracy. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.