Under Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ child poverty will rise again
Originally published in The Sacramento Bee on June 23, 2025.
In 2021, something remarkable happened: the United States cut its child poverty rate nearly in half. This wasn’t due to a booming economy or a new war on poverty. It was thanks to the expanded Child Tax Credit, passed during the COVID pandemic. For one year, families received a tax credit up to $3,600 per child, which allowed even the lowest-income households to fully benefit.
The result was the lowest child poverty rate on record: 5.2%, down from 9.7% the year before. Researchers estimate that around 3 million children were lifted out of poverty. But rather than make this success permanent, Congress let it expire at the end of 2021. Child poverty rates quickly rebounded, with some estimates showing rates back above 15% in 2023.