Democrats Should Use The Lame Duck To Expand The Child Tax Credit

Lawmakers are considering year-end tax breaks for corporations. A little help for families like yours and mine would go much further.

by Sarah Izabel, OtherWords

Right around the time I heard lawmakers were considering a year-end package of tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, my 12-year-old son’s bike broke. It felt like just another thing I couldn’t fix for him.

Yet here are our lawmakers “fixing” things for those with the fewest problems. That’s unacceptable when there are so many ordinary families who need help.

I know what it’s like to pull myself up by my bootstraps — I’ve had to do it again and again. But I also know how far even a little help can go.

Members of Congress sit on the House floor

I grew up in Brazil, where my mother instilled in my siblings and me the value of hard work and education. I worked my way into law school, where I met a man from the United States. We fell in love, married, and had a child. I moved with him to Virginia to go to college and raise our family.

It felt like I was doing everything right… but things went wrong. When my husband developed a substance abuse problem and became aggressive, I had to flee with my child to a local YWCA for refuge.