COVID-19, THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT (ARPA) AND KIDS

The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus and recovery legislation will pump needed funding into the economy to provide economic support to Americans, support essential workers, and advance a major vaccination and response effort to COVID-19 – but it really does much more. 

It puts into place major components of an overall agenda for children and families to reduce child poverty by one-half (see the child , provide higher quality and more affordable child care, provide family leave, make strategic investments in public education to promote equity, establish a community-based public health and resilience workforce, and take steps to strengthen primary and preventive child health. 

While enacted through budget reconciliation and on near party-line votes, most of these provisions have bipartisan support and represent strong first steps to “build back better” society’s infrastructure for supporting families in raising their children.

Expanding the child tax credit and making it refundable alone is estimated to reduce child poverty by one-half. Currently, children are the age group most likely to live in poverty, more than double the rate in most other developed nations.  The child tax credit has strong support from policy experts across the political spectrum and is an extension of the actions Senator Rubio led in 2018 to increase that credit and that Senator Romney is proposing in his own legislation this session.

Providing $40 billion in direct assistance to rebuilding the child care system and expanding tax credits for working families to assist in child care not only makes such care more affordable, it begins to establish decent paying employment and careers. This has strong support not only in the child care and child advocates, but among business groups who recognize that child care is the “workforce behind the workforce.” 

Providing federal assistance to public education through Title I and IDEA enables schools to reopen safely, but also begins to address inequities in financing that have resulted in disparities in children’s educational development. A strong public education system, particularly in poor urban and rural communities, is essential to equalizing opportunity.

Investing $6.5 billion to add 100,000 jobs and triple the number of community-based health workers starts to rebuild a public health infrastructure, initially for a vaccination campaign but in the longer term in protecting against future pandemics and promote healthier communities for children to develop. Many of the higher returns on investment are from providing preventive and developmental services that advance child health trajectories.

This overall stimulus and recovery package sets in motion new directions in federal leadership to invest in children and America’s future. While these provisions and investments represent immediate responses to COVID-19 over the next twenty-four months, they also set the stage for longer-term investments which are essential to the country’s future well-being. 

RESOURCES: Excerpts from the American Rescue Plan Act.

One of the most significant features of ARPA is its expansion of the child tax credit, both in its size and refundability for low-income households.

Estimates are that it will lift over 8 million children out  of poverty and reduce child poverty in the country by hearly one-half.

Expanding the child tax credit and making it refundable alone is estimated to reduce child poverty by one-half. Currently, children are the age group most likely to live in poverty, more than double the rate in most other developed nations.  The child tax credit has strong support from policy experts across the political spectrum and is an extension of the actions Senator Rubio led in 2018 to increase that credit and that Senator Romney is proposing in his own legislation this session.

The CTC expansion is  temporary but is proposed to be extended in the American Families Plan. 

RESOURCES: The case for the child tax credit is made in a Des Moines Register Guest guest opinion using Iowa data on its impacts. A state-by-state spreadsheet offers 

equivalent information for every state that can be used in showing its impact that could be used for similar guest opinions.

COVID-19 has had a profound impact upon schools and on child care, providing substantial disruptions at a time when their contact with children and support to families is critically important.

Moreover, it has placed greatest pressures and stresses on parents and disruptions in their children's learning and development.

ARPA provides substantial funding to stabilize and support child care providers ($40 billion+) and to equip schools to respond ($129 billion) -- as a first step in further efforts to strengthen both.

ARPA also takes a major step in providing paid family leave.

While these all represent immediate and time-limited investments to respond to COVID-19, they also set a foundation for proposed investments in the American Families Plan and in the 2022 federl budget.