To the editor:

Poverty, which is not a lack of motivation, but a lack of money, plagues the United States, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Right now, 27 million children in low-income families can get the full Child Tax Credit as a monthly payment. 

Additionally, 5 million low-wage workers are no longer being taxed into poverty because their Earned Income Tax Credit is too low.

However, these expanded credits are only in place for 2021, and if they are not extended, will have devastating effects as millions of workers and children will fall below the poverty line next year.

The EITC and CTC together lifted 7.5 million people above the poverty line in 2019. 

This year, the EITC changes will boost incomes for 17 million low-wage workers not raising children while the CTC expansion, including its new monthly payment option, can reduce child poverty by 45 percent. We must not abandon these workers and children after one year.

It’s imperative that the Senate Finance/House Ways and Means Committee make the EITC and CTC expansions permanent, including full refundability of the CTC. Senators Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, what are you doing to support low-income workers and families?

Rachel Grollmes 

Topeka