Our Path Forward: Advocates nationwide join in CHN’s webinar on how to protect people despite threats from the new Administration and Congress
January 15, 2025
CHN’s open letter to Sen. Joe Manchin on the Build Back Better Act
CHN Staff,
December 20, 2021
The Coalition on Human Needs sent a letter to Sen. Joe Manchin this week urging him not to close the door on Build Back Better Act negotiations. "Senator Manchin, so much is at stake, affecting the economic security of your constituents and people nationwide," the letter states. "Yes, we are facing serious threats from COVID and its continuing economic dislocations. But economists and the people of West Virginia are telling you that Build Back Better will help, without increasing inflation."
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, December 17, 2021
CHN Staff,
December 17, 2021
The 61.2 million children get coal edition. This week, the U.S. marked two sad milestones. More than 50 million COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed since the pandemic began, and more than 800,000 people have died. The highly contagious omicron variant is here in the U.S. and is ricocheting through Britain and parts of Europe; on Thursday alone, Britain reported 88,376 new infections – the highest number since the pandemic began. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing.
Build Back Better: Will Congress be the Grinch who steals Christmas hope?
David Elliot,
December 17, 2021
With time expiring in 2021, leaders in the U.S. Senate joined faith leaders this week for a Capitol Hill news conference to urge passage of the Build Back Better Act. Within a day, their quest grew more challenging, as President Biden and congressional leaders acknowledged they were not ready to enact this historic legislation before Christmas. The Senate will return on January 3, a week earlier than originally planned, to resume work on the bill.
End of Child Tax Credit payments a worry for WV families
CHN Staff,
December 15, 2021
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The final round of the federal government's Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments ends today, unless Congress votes to extend them before the year is up. Holly Bradley, a farmer in Pocahontas County, said the extra money she has received this year through the CTC has helped keep her family afloat, and losing it would be a setback. "I feel like that's going to leave a lot of folks having to choose between what bills they pay," Bradley asserted. "And what food they're able to put on the table, and if they can make rent or not."
Hidden Pain: 167,000 have lost parents or caregivers to COVID-19. What are we going to do about it?
David Elliot,
December 14, 2021
More than 167,000 children – roughly one out of every 450 in the U.S. -- have lost a parent or other primary caregiver to COVID-19, according to a new, bipartisan report released last week by COVID Collaborative and Social Policy Analytics. The report, Hidden Pain: Children Who Lost a Parent or Caregiver to COVID-19 and What the Nation Can Do to Help Them, offers a roadmap to support and provide for these children, roughly half of whom are in elementary or junior high school.