Congress omits urgent poverty-fighting policies from year-end legislation with small victories for funding priorities
Washington DC, December 20, 2022—This morning, Congress introduced an omnibus bill funding the government for the 2023 Fiscal Year that deals a devastating blow to many families and global communities grappling with the destructive effects of poverty by omitting key anti-poverty policies. There had been hope that the omnibus would include a restoration of the expanded Child Tax Credit (or “CTC”) as well as the READ Reauthorization Act and the End TB Now Act. It is deeply disappointing that Congress has simply declined to act on behalf of families and global communities during this moment of compounding crises with illness and inflation on the rise.
The expanded CTC would reestablish the financial supports that helped slash U.S. child poverty by an unprecedented 46 percent in 2021. Its omission threatens to further destabilize families as inflation stretches budgets to the brink. More families are making impossible choices about whether they can afford to eat, pay rent, or turn on the heat this winter. It is shocking that Congress chose a path of inaction when we know with absolute certainty that an expanded CTC changes lives for the better and dramatically reduces poverty. This makes action to restore the expanded CTC all the more imperative in the new year.
The READ Reauthorization and the End TB Now Act would provide critical support toward stymying two preventable causes of deepening global poverty: the tuberculosis epidemic and a lack of universal access to high quality education. Both educational inequity and TB prevalence worsened precipitously during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the urgency to pass both bills into law. It is heartening, however, that the omnibus maximizes funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at $2 billion, buoying collective efforts to drive down these diseases. The omnibus also increases annual funding for USAID’s bilateral efforts to fight TB by 6 percent. Increased resources will have the most significant impact in tandem with the End TB Now Act that creates more robust partnerships and accountability for how the funds are spent.
Despite these setbacks, we want to thank our RESULTS advocates for their unflinching support as well as the members of Congress who continue to champion the expanded CTC, the READ Act Reauthorization, and End TB Now. We also want to congratulate these advocates and Congressional champions on the funding increases in this omnibus that will prove indispensable in the ongoing fight against global poverty. Now is the moment to rest, honor some hard-won progress, and prepare for reinvigorated action in January.
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Media Contact:
Laura Labarre
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About RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund:
RESULTS supports a movement of passionate, committed everyday people using their voices to influence political decisions that will bring an end to poverty. Volunteers and staff multiply their impact through the enormous power of advocacy.
Our movement of volunteers is backed by a staff of researchers, policy analysts, and legislative and media experts. Our shared goal is the end of poverty. We have affiliates and partners across five continents, and a network of volunteers in all 50 states and worldwide. We’re a non-partisan advocacy group comprised of RESULTS Educational Fund, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, and RESULTS, a nonprofit 501(c)4 grassroots lobbying organization.