Upcoming Tax Day offers a painful reminder for many parents of the short-lived expanded child tax credit (CTC). this relief from financial distress has been blocked by Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and every Republican in their refusal to pass the Build Back Better Act.

If the CTC was extended, the poverty rate among Black children could have been reduced by more than 50 percent. Manchin has been demanding “work requirements” for qualification—but every mother is a working mother, and every mother knows that.