A group of congressional Democrats is vowing to fight hard to restore a pandemic-era child tax credit amid new data this week showing the childhood poverty rate surged in 2022.

“I’ll put the child tax credit up against any other federal program in terms of its success,” said House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). “This group of people is not going to support tax benefits for corporations and for the wealthiest people in this country if we don’t invest in the child tax credit in a meaningful way,” added Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), alongside a group of lawmakers oft-dubbed the “CTC Six.”

Context: Data released by the Census Bureau this week found the nation’s poverty rate for children more than doubled in 2022 from 5.2 percent in 2021 to 12.4 percent. The child tax credit was initially included as part of the American Rescue Plan but lapsed at the end of 2021.

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