Rep. Hank Johnson highlights impact on Georgia families no longer receiving Child Tax Credit

DECATUR, GA –Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04)  said Jan. 14 the first time in six months that families will not receive the expanded and improved monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC) due to Senate inaction on the Build Back Better Act.

From July to December 2021, more than 2 million Georgia children received payments, totaling $3.23 million in benefits across the state.

In December alone, more than 1.2 million CTC payments went out to hardworking Georgia families.

According to Columbia University, these monthly payments are reducing food insecurity, and families overwhelmingly spent this money on food and other essential needs.

In Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District, the Joint Economic Committee determined that 167,000 children received the Child Tax Credit, going to 85,000 families through November.

“Prior to the passage of the American Rescue Plan, too many children and families who would benefit most from a Child Tax Credit were left behind,” said Johnson, who supported the Rescue Plan. “Now, after six months of payments, the evidence is clear. The expanded and improved monthly Child Tax Credit works. Through these payments, Democrats and the Biden Administration provided a lifeline for the middle class — the biggest middle-class tax cut we have seen in a generation, lifting more than 50 percent of children out of poverty all while fighting inflation. Today is the first time in six months that families will not have access to this transformational monthly benefit. Those families are thrown back into financial insecurity, food insecurity, and poverty. We cannot let the progress Georgia families made thanks to the American Rescue Plan end here.”

“The payments were a blessing,” said Amber Steo, a Snellville mother of three and Pre-K teacher. “I don’t think the system should get abused or that the government should pay for everything we do but, in these times, when COVID can put you out of work at any moment, these payments allow us to keep getting by without wiping out our savings account. Groceries, car repairs to get us around and the chance to catch up on past bills may be gone now and that is not right.”

Over the long term, research has found that an extra $3,000 in a family’s annual income when a child is younger than age 5 leads to 19 percent higher future earnings, and a growing body of academic research finds that public investments in children yield significant long-term returns with economy-wide benefits, as healthier, more educated kids grow up to be more productive workers with higher earnings. This, in turn, also generates higher future revenues.

“We have the opportunity to lock in this Social Security for children,” said Rep. Johnson. “We must pass the Build Back Better