ICYMI: PENNLIVE: ‘THIS IS HUGE FOR ME’: FOR MANY FAMILIES, THE EXPANDED CHILD TAX CREDIT PAYMENTS ARE A BIG DEAL

PENNSYLVANIA — Families across Pennsylvania are beginning to feel relief as the Child Tax Credit hits their bank accounts. Thanks to President Biden’s new middle class tax cut, mothers like Tara Tomlinson are able to make ends meet after a very trying year, PennLive reported. Mother of six, Star Williams, said this gives her family an opportunity to “stay on top of the bills.” 

PennLive: ‘This is huge for me’: For many families, the expanded child tax credit payments are a big deal 

The COVID-19 pandemic was a reality check for Tara Tomlinson.

The single mother of two from Camp Hill counts herself fortunate to have been able to keep her job throughout the pandemic, but she found that meeting the essentials for her family got progressively harder.

Like millions of other parents, Tomlinson awoke on Thursday to find a nice bump in her bank account, part of the federal government’s enhanced child tax credit.

Nationwide, about 35 million families will receive money through the federal Child Tax Credit program, which will disburse monthly cash payments to eligible families with children ages 17 or younger.

Tomlinson says the infusion of money makes a real difference.

“This is a unique moment in time – we’re finally at a point, after saying we should invest in families, we’re finally doing it,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. during a Wednesday teleconference. ” … We said to the powerful, the [American] Rescue Plan is not for you … we’re going to focus on children and families with children … That’s the way it should be.”

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Democrat in the Philadelphia suburbs, said she’s hopeful the tax credits can help lift some people out of poverty. On Twitter, she pointedly wrote, “Did I mention not a single Republican voted for a *tax cut* for working families?”

Like Tomlinson, Williams was fortunate to keep her job during the pandemic. Still, the early infusion of money is a welcome benefit to the family.

“It gives families the opportunity to get ahead,” Williams said. “A lot of families are waiting for tax time to catch up on purchases. Now they are getting the money ahead of time even though it’s only half, it will give them an opportunity to stay on top of the bills.”

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