Both the House and Senate economic recovery bills would expand the federal Child Tax Credit, but there’s a major difference between them. Twelve million low-income children would benefit more from the House version: 2.2 million additional low-income children would qualify for the credit and 10 million more would receive a larger credit. The House approach would translate into an additional $3.9 billion total for very low-income families.

The difference between the two approaches occurs because the House bill counts all family earnings when calculating its Child Tax Credit, while the Senate bill only counts earnings exceeding $6,000 a year. Working families with earnings below $6,000 are therefore helped under the House bill, but not the Senate version, and other low-earning families get a larger credit under the House bill because all of their earnings are considered when the credit is calculated.
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From the Coalition on Human Needs

Click here to read the letter sent to members of Congress on February 9, 2009.

Organizations: Sign a Letter Supporting Child Tax Credit Help for 13 Million Children - and create jobs at the same time!

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The economic recovery bill introduced in the House of Representatives would make a major improvement in the federal Child Tax Credit. The bill would diminish an inequity that has made the current credit unavailable to the poorest working families with children. The improvement would be temporary — structured to last for the next two years. But, at a time when millions of families are struggling due to job losses, reduced hours, and low wages, the improved credit would both help provide needed stimulus to the economy and help low-income working families make ends meet.

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February 10, 2009

Call your Representative and Senators: 866-544-7573 (toll-free)

Message to your Rep. and Senators: Tell the Conference Committee to agree to an economic recovery bill with the House’s aid to states and communities (including education, Head Start, and affordable housing), and the House’s version of the Child Tax Credit. Our state needs the jobs; our people need the help - please vote for the final American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The 650,000 job difference: Although the two bills cost about the same (more than $800 billion each), the House bill saves/creates hundreds of thousands more jobs because it provides more aid to states to prevent education and other important services from being cut. The House bill also creates jobs by investing more to renovate low-income housing and to support community services including Head Start. Very important, the House bill also provides more help to millions more low-income families through the Child Tax Credit. The Senate bill does less in these areas, and spends more on tax breaks that mostly benefit upper-income people.

Click here for more details about the House/Senate differences.

The Impact of the UIMA

The US economy lost 533,000 jobs in November alone, bringing the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, and the underemployment rate, which takes into account discoursed workers who have stopped looking for work, and those who are working part time because they cannot get full time hours, to 12.5 percent.

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Widespread Support Exists for Modernizing and Expanding Access to Unemployment Insurance to Stabilize the Economy

prepared by the staff of the House Committee on Ways and Means

A diverse set of individuals and organizations have declared their support for increasing access to unemployment benefits, including through passage of the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act (H.R. 2233/S. 1871).
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By Louis Uchitelle
The New York Times

With the economy deteriorating rapidly, the nation’s employers shed 533,000 jobs in November, the 11th consecutive monthly decline, the government reported Friday morning, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent.
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Enact Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act

An editorial from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

The recent release of state and U.S. unemployment rates is just the latest indication that the global economic crisis is quickly becoming an employment crisis as well.

Nationally, new claims for unemployment benefits last week spiked to a 16-year high of 542,000, which brings the four-week average to 506,500. Those are the worst numbers in 25 years, and it’s likely November’s unemployment rate will go even higher than October’s 6.5 percent.
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Before Congress closed what may be the first of two lame duck sessions before the end of the year, they passed, and President Bush signed, an important and much needed extension of unemployment insurance benefits. But they did not take other urgently needed action to help hard pressed families make ends meet, or get the economy back on track.
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An editorial from the St. Petersburg Times

With so much attention being paid to whether American automakers should get a bailout, Congress should not lose sight of essential legislation to extend unemployment benefits. Senate leaders have bundled together an auto industry rescue with the extension of unemployment benefits. But if it turns out that Democrats can’t muster the votes needed for passage of a combined measure, the jobless benefits should be approved separately.
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