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By MICHAEL HINMAN
Full-time job or not, it’s not easy to make a living, even with New York City pushing the minimum wage well beyond the federal standard lows. The coronavirus has only made the situation worse.
Raquel Ali knows all about it. While Congress provided help here and there, it was nearly impossible to make ends meet until a very different check first arrived in the mail last month. He had the kind of money that could help Ali pay for food, keep the lights on, or even catch up on his rent.
“People in my community who look like me have often struggled with paycheck to paycheck,†Ali said. “The pandemic has really hit us extremely hard, but this child tax credit has allowed me to support my daughters in a way that I couldn’t have done if it hadn’t been for me. . “
The IRS calls these payments an “advance” on the federal child tax credit, offering up to $ 300 per month for each child under 6 and $ 250 per month for older children. The first checks have already been sent to families who typically file tax refunds, and the pressure is now on to ensure that every family in need is paid, even if they don’t normally file taxes.
It was exactly the need for this type of education that prompted U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman to convene a town hall in Yonkers last week to discuss it.
He invited two Senate majority leaders – Andrea Stewart-Cousins ​​from the Albany side and Chuck Schumer from the Washington circuit. Bowman also hosted US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. Bowman’s goal was not just to publicize the availability of funds like this through the Biden administration’s US bailout, but to push for these monthly payments to be permanent after December.
“I ran for office because I personally believe the cycle of poverty is systemic, rooted in racial injustice and gender bias,†Bowman said. “It’s violence. It’s a trauma. It’s a crime. But, more importantly, it is our political choice.
All too often, elected officials – even those in Congress – don’t pay much more than hype to poverty, Bowman said. Adeyemo – Elizabeth Warren’s former chief of staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – says he’s paying attention. And efforts like these monthly payments help more than 16 million children across the country – 3 million of them here in New York City, receiving just over $ 400 a month on average.
“It matters a lot,†Adeyemo said.
“It’s about making sure they have clothes on their backs and food on their stomachs. And what the president had vowed to do was use the US bailout to try and resolve these issues in a way that mattered and mattered to the lives of the people sitting in this room and the people. of this community. “
Congress passed the US bailout last March, a $ 1.9 trillion economic stimulus package designed to keep families afloat while the coronavirus pandemic rages on. It also provided essential assistance to companies in difficulty. Republicans were not interested in passing such an expensive stimulus bill, fearing it would cripple the economy by imposing more public debt on it.
Democrats have worked around Republicans in the Senate through a process known as Budget Reconciliation. There, with the blessing of the Parliamentarian of the Senate, budget related bills only require a simple majority in the Senate – which Democrats hold with the decisive vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.
While Congressional Democrats expect they can once again use reconciliation to pass a more permanent version of those monthly payments to families with children, Bowman said. The Riverdale press he would very much like Republicans to join them in a pledge to help families in financial difficulty – pandemic or not.
“They don’t want to support anything the Democrats are proposing,” the congressman said.
“So Republicans continue to be obstructionists for whatever reason. A bill that makes sense for the whole country, they simply will not support it. “
Holding small majorities in both houses has helped push some Democratic moves towards Joe Biden’s office, but Bowman admits he wishes there was much less resistance from the GOP.
“We need 10 Republicans to support whatever the Democratic agenda,†Bowman said, citing the 60 votes needed in the Senate to overcome an obstruction. “This is why reconciliation is useful. But to move forward, you have to look back to move forward. And not everything can happen through reconciliation.
Democrats were reminded of this earlier this week when the Senate parliamentarian rejected permission to push an immigration bill through the Upper House using reconciliation. Now, if Democrats are to help the Dreamers – immigrants who entered the country undocumented as children – move closer to citizenship, they’ll have to convince 10 Senate Republicans to join them.
But at least on Friday, lawmakers like Chuck Schumer focused more on some of the other national victories, such as providing financial assistance to families in need.
“When a child is born into poverty, he does not receive adequate food,” said the Senate majority leader. “They’re not getting the right clothes. They do not receive proper education and health care. This will prevent half of our children from falling into poverty, and that’s good. It helps their family, but it also helps America and the Yonkers because it makes our community stronger.
“And with more productive citizens ready to do things, we are trying to help this community in many other ways.”
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