美国国家公共电台 NPR--The end of pandemic relief measures upends progress in reducing child poverty

The end of pandemic relief measures upends progress in reducing child poverty

Transcript¹

The expanded child tax credit expired last year. Some economists² say that's eroding³ progress made in reducing child poverty during the pandemic — leaving families vulnerable during high inflation.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Many economists say the expanded child tax credit helped reduce child poverty during the pandemic. Last year, Congress failed to extend it. Wailin Wong and Adrian Ma from The Indicator⁴ podcast explain that soon after the expanded benefit disappeared, the progress that had been made started to slip.

WAILIN WONG, BYLINE⁵: Diane Schanzenbach has a book on her desk. It gets a ton of use. She's actually got two copies of it, one for her home office and one for work.

DIANE SCHANZENBACH: You can see that, you know, the spine⁶ is broken because I - you know, I use it so much.

WONG: Diane is the director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. She studies child poverty. And this well-worn volume is a 2019 report by a group of researchers about how to cut the number of children living in poverty in the U.S. in half over the next decade.

ADRIAN MA, BYLINE: At the time of the report, their estimates showed 13% of children were living in families with annual incomes below the poverty line. And one way to think about that is that for a family of four, that would be an income below $25,000.

SCHANZENBACH: For many of us, we were convinced that an important tool would be the refundable⁷ monthly child tax credit that would help, you know, make sure that families were able to just bridge their month - you know, not run out of food at the end of the month, be able to pay their rent.

MA: So the child tax credit has been around for decades but as an annual benefit, you know, something that you can only claim once a year around tax time. Diane and her colleagues have been pushing to make this a monthly credit, and finally, in 2021, the government made it a reality. What it did was temporarily increase the size of the credit and then paid out a portion of it in monthly increments⁸. So about 35 million families got monthly payments of $250 or $300 per child.

WONG: The first checks went out in July. Just a month later, according to the Census⁹ Bureau, households with children saw their food insufficiency decrease and also their financial hardship decrease. In other words, the money helped families put food on the table and cover their expenses.

SCHANZENBACH: It knocked my socks off to see that sharp decline. Families are struggling less because of this money that's going out.

WONG: Although there was some debate among economists about whether the tax credit was creating incentives¹⁰ to not work, overall, Diane and her colleagues were very encouraged by such clear progress. But about six months later, the very last checks under the expanded credit went out after Congress failed to extend it. And when the monthly checks stopped, the gains in reducing child poverty were reversed. One measure by Columbia University showed that in just one month, the child poverty rate jumped from around 12% to 17%.

MA: Yeah, that's a huge increase. And, I mean, to put it in perspective, that's about 3.7 million more kids living below the poverty line, most of them Black and Latino.

SCHANZENBACH: You know what? I feel sad about it because of what I think it means for low-income children and our national investment in them.

WONG: There may still be a shot at reviving a version of the monthly child tax credit. On Wednesday, Senator Mitt¹¹ Romney and a couple other senators proposed a bill that would give working families a cash benefit every month.

Wailin Wong.

MA: Adrian Ma, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

4 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

7 Refundable   

adj.可归还的，可退还的

参考例句：

• All deposits for holiday cottages are refundable. 度假别墅的抵押金可全数退还。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Empty bottles are not refundable. 空瓶不退。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 increments   

n.增长( increment的名词复数 )；增量；增额；定期的加薪

参考例句：

• These increments were mixed and looked into the 5.56mm catridge case. 将各种药粒进行混和，装在5．56毫米的弹壳中。 来自辞典例句
• The Rankine scale has scale increments equal to the FahrenheIt'scale. 兰氏温标的温度间距与华氏温标的相同。 来自辞典例句

9 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

10 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。