Here is a problem Sen. Joe Manchin did not consider in his opposition to extending the child tax credit, and one he does not encounter day-to-day. His consituent from Martinsburg, West Virginia has to (CNN):
Losing the enhanced monthly child tax credit pushed Joi Lansdowne to start toilet training her daughter Kaleasi, who recently turned 2. That way, the mom of two could save money on diapers, which run her about $100 every 10 days or so.”
That is a huge expense,” said Lansdowne, 26, who worked as a case worker for the state of Maryland until the fall and had hoped she’d continue receiving the $300 monthly infusion this year. “When you don’t have the funds to cover those things, you’ve got to get creative.”
Lansdowne dropped her cable to help manage her mortgage and is looking for work. Still, child care for Kaleasi and her four-month-old sister eats up hundreds per month.
Her message for Manchin?
“Go speak to the working class and see how they feel,” she said. “I will tell you, it helped a lot. And now I’m in a predicament where I can’t work because there is no child tax credit to help me with day care.”
Five other Senate Democrats have not given up on reviving the program that lifted 3.7 million children out of poverty last month. Those included “737,000 Black children, 1.4 million Latino children and 1.4 million White children, according to estimates by the Center on Poverty & Social Policy at Columbia University,” an estimated 30% decline in child poverty.
The loss of the monthly credit forced Tamara Harris, 48, to take on more hours as a school bus driver in Indianapolis so she could put gas in the car and food in the fridge for her four children, three of whom are in their early 20s. But that means she’s not able to spend as much time taking care of two of her kids who have sickle cell anemia and are frequently in the hospital.
Recently, she paid a friend to take her 17-year-old son to the doctor so she didn’t have to take time off from work. But the doctor then called and said she should accompany him next time.
Tamara Harris added hours at work after losing the monthly child tax credit payment. But now she has to juggle caring for two ill children.
Harris is not sure why there is opposition to extending the enhanced child tax credit, particularly the monthly payments, since many parents plow it back into local businesses.”
Ask the guy who lives on a yacht in D.C. and drives a Maserati.