Children’s HealthWatch applauds the significant investments in the health and well-being of young children and families proposed in the Biden-Harris Administration’s American Families Plan (AFP), released yesterday. Central to equitable recovery and truly building back better, the AFP includes historic investments in child care and universal pre-kindergarten, permanently expands recent improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), ensures families with lowest incomes are permanently eligible for the the Child Tax Credit (CTC) while boosting the amount of the credit through 2025, which is estimated to cut child poverty in half during that period, establishes twelve weeks of paid family and medical leave, and strengthens federal nutrition assistance programs.

Building on the down payments made in the American Rescue Plan to stabilize Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), immigrant, and low-income families hardest hit by the pandemic, the AFP responds to longstanding gender and racial inequities and barriers to achieving financial stability and economic mobility in the US. These structural investments – in addition to robust resources for housing outlined in the American Jobs Plan – are essential for the future prosperity of our entire nation and the ability for every child to thrive. There is ample evidence that investments like these early in life in the nutrition, health, and learning of young children and their families will have positive impacts far into the future.

Looking ahead, we must rebuild our economy in a way that prioritizes the health of families with children and dismantles systems of economic and racial injustice. The AFP is a critical step in this vision. However, in order to have the greatest impact, implementation of these provisions must be made permanent, inclusive, and equitably delivered. Children’s HealthWatch looks forward to working with Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure the swift passage of the AFP, and to enact legislation that promotes the health, well-being, and success of all children and families.