VIDEO: On Eve Of Last Child Tax Credit Payment, Kaine Leads Colleagues On Senate Floor Calling For Extension In Build Back Better

You can watch video of his remarks here

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senator Michael Bennet led Senators Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown, and Catherine Cortez Masto on the Senate floor calling for swift passage of the Build Back Better bill that will lower costs and extend the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Senator Kaine shared stories of how Virginians from Glen Allen, Rockingham, South Boston, Lynchburg, Leesburg, Midlothian, Alexandria, Waynesboro, and Roanoke have benefited from the CTC.

In pushing for passage of the Build Back Better bill, he said, “I’m here joining my colleagues to ask that this payment to parents – this parents tax cut to help their children – is not the last because unless we act, the 6th payment that will go out tomorrow will be the last.”

Kaine concluded, “It’s on our shoulders. And these families who are struggling and working so hard, and who have hopes as high as any of our hopes, they need us to fight for them.”

In March, the Senators voted to pass the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, which expanded the CTC and instructed the IRS to provide tax cuts to millions of families in need (up to $250 monthly checks per every 6-17 year old and up to $300 monthly checks per every kid under 6). However, unless Congress acts, the last payments will go out on December 15, 2021. The Senators are pushing to extend the tax cut as part of the Build Back Better bill.

Thanks to this expansion under the ARP, the CTC has already helped millions of children nationwide, including helping families afford basic necessities like food, housing, and health care. Experts have projected the expanded CTC has already lifted more than three million children out of poverty this year.

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