Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

I’ll confess to missing one of the biggest features in the “American Rescue Plan” proposed by Joe Biden: the $3,600 in tax credits for each child in the country… even for those children who’s parents do not pay taxes! NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof didn’t miss this feature, and his op ed piece yesterday was his effort to make certain it did not fall by the wayside despite the GOP’s desire to see it removed from the package Biden is proposing. Kristof is high on this because it has proven to work in Canada and the UK:

One reason to think that this would be so successful is that many other countries have used similar strategies to cut child poverty by large margins. Canada’s parallel approach cut child poverty by 20 to 30 percent, depending on who’s counting, and Britain under Tony Blair cut child poverty in half.

But Kristof acknowledges that this money won’t work in every case; particularly given the rampant drug abuse in our country and the misplaced priorities of some parents:

None of this is simple, and monthly stipends don’t solve all problems.One child in eight lives with a parent struggling with substance abuse. While I’ve seen many families striving to do their best for their children even as they’re crushed by low-wage jobs, I once visited a home in Arkansas in which a boy had three televisions in his bedroom but no food in the house. Love and dysfunction can coexist.

Given that these stipends have demonstrated their worth elsewhere, and given the GOP’s lip service to family values and Christ’s teachings how could it not pass? The only way for it to fail would be for it to be neglected and abused… like the increasing number of children who are now left behind as a result of the pandemic.