推特

尊敬的国会议员:

社区服务社, one of New York’s and the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to economic equity and equality, is writing to urge you and your fellow Democrats to ensure that the forthcoming agreement on the “Build Back Better” economic recovery legislation extends the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) and retains the U.S. House of Representatives’ funding proposal for affordable and public housing investments. 

另外, we urge you to continue to make other meaningful investments that provide a pathway to economic security for vulnerable families that go beyond the recovery package and help bolster the Affordable Care Act and assist individuals struggling with student loan debt as the debate on cancellation and loan forgiveness continues. 

Permanently expanding the CTC is vitally important in lifting children out of poverty and providing greater equity in the tax code to children living in very low-income households. 在美国拯救法案之前, 2700万儿童，大约是黑人的一半, 拉丁美洲人, and rural children – were excluded from receiving the full CTC because their families’ incomes were too low. 

The American Rescue Act put into law that children in low-income families, 包括那些没有收入的人, 应该和高收入家庭的孩子获得同样的CTC吗. This important and long-overdue change is projected to reduce child poverty by 40 percent, with the highest reductions in the poverty rates of Black and 拉丁美洲人 children. 另外, extending the credits full refundability multiplies the total anti-poverty impact by almost eight times, 提升估计为4.100万儿童摆脱贫困.  

众议院BBB计划中的住房投资也至关重要. As prospective resources for affordable housing assistance in the final package are reportedly being reduced to accommodate Democrats’ need to lower their topline spending number, Congress and the Biden Administration must commit to supporting vulnerable families by including robust investments that promote housing affordability here in New York and around the country.  

缩减或取消对公共住房的投资, 租金援助, and affordable housing production will significantly reduce the impact of other investments provided in the economic recovery package — from childcare to eldercare. The House’s proposal includes voucher investments that would help about 1.700万美国人拥有负担得起、安全、稳定的住房. And the public housing appropriation would be a lifeline for the New York City Housing Authority.

除了反恐委员会和住房投资, there are other critical economic security investments that we urge the delegation to support before the 117th Congress adjourns in December. 该国面临1美元.7 trillion student loan debt crisis, the second largest form of consumer debt next to mortgages. 在回应, we urge Congress to create and provide a dedicated federal funding stream to support Consumer Assistance Programs (CAPs) to student loan borrowers. Supporting these programs would provide meaningful assistance and resources to borrowers as Congressional leaders and the White House considers how to assist Americans burdened with crushing student loan debt, 其中包括2.400万纽约人. 

学生贷款债务对低收入借款人来说尤其沉重, 第一代大学生, 女性, 和老年人. Borrowers have no option but to rely on a federal loan servicer industry that disseminates incomplete and sometimes erroneous information, 导致失去减少或消除债务的机会. 另外, federal discharge and forgiveness programs have become so complex that few individuals have been able to successfully benefit from them. These issues have only worsened in the COVID-19 related economic crisis despite efforts to temporarily pause the repayment and accrual of interest on loans to select borrowers.  

Finally, our nation would also benefit from a restoration of federal funding of health care CAPs. The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) provided an annual appropriation for consumer assistance programs to provide a dedicated federal funding stream to ensure financial support and consumer protections that were outlined in the Act. 不幸的是，cap从那时起就没有收到联邦拨款. 

The lack of federal funding has forced some state and local governments to assume funding responsibility—and other states to simply close their CAPs down.  因为资金短缺, the remaining CAP programs cannot meet the current demand for assistance and to ensure Americans receive the covered benefits they need and deserve. As Congress continues to move quicky to provide support to individuals who are underinsured or who have lost their jobs and health care coverage due to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, CAPs will be critically needed to help consumers understand and utilize their health care options.  

我们最脆弱家庭的生存, especially Black and Brown New Yorkers hit hardest by the coronavirus and the economic crisis that ensued, 取决于国会现在做出的选择.  

We have a tremendous opportunity to cut child poverty by historical proportions and invest in affordable and public housing while also providing Americans with crucial assistance and resources so that they can effectively navigate the health care and student loan debt sectors.  

我们感谢你的领导和你对这一请求的考虑.