OPINION: We can do more to help families in poverty

In the Preamble of the Constitution, our Founding Fathers declared that their intent was to form “a more perfect union, (to)establish justice…(and )Promote the General Welfare …. “

Centuries after this declaration was made, it remains an aspiration we seek to fulfill as a country.

We have come a long way in establishing equality, justice and promotion of the general welfare of all, but we still have a way to go. As the richest country on Earth, we must find a way to reduce the number of people who live in poverty.

As of today, millions of American children live in poverty – and their families are forced to juggle rent, medical care, food and other essential needs of life. Just imagine the toll that this constant struggle takes on the well-being of children. In addition, so many Americans work for minimum wages that are simply not sufficient to keep their families out of poverty.

While little progress has been made to adequately raise our minimum wage, our government last year expanded the child tax credit by providing families $3,000 for every child who is 6- to 17-years-old – and $3,600 for children who are younger than age 6.

The expansion of the child tax credit pulled 3.4 million children out of poverty. Yet despite the numerous studies supporting the reality that these payments did not keep unemployed poor Americans from seeking employment, Congress failed to extend the program. As a result, many innocent children will return to lives of poverty – even though continuing the child tax credit would have cost a fraction of the annual money America spent for years fighting our now-abandoned war in Afghanistan.

Recently the Herald-Tribune published a column by Sen. Marco Rubio; in it, the Florida senator criticized the Biden administration for both the amount of the child tax credit increase and the process of paying the funds in monthly installments. The monthly payments, Rubio contended, only served to reduce the tax refunds that many American families ended up receiving this year.

But Rubio didn't mention that the monthly payments were needed for food and necessities, and that they effectively worked to remove millions of children and their families out of poverty. Nor did the senator mention that when he and his congressional colleagues failed to extend or increase the enhanced credit, they were effectively dooming millions of children and their families back to lives in poverty.

Our failure to do more to lift families out of poverty is a violation of our social compact to help those in need. This should be a priority for our government, and it should be treated as such by our political parties.

Harold Halpern is a retired attorney living in Lakewood Ranch, and this piece solely reflects his views. Halpern is a board member of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.