Does long COVID affect disproportionately affect women, people of color?
David Elliot,
January 28, 2022
Two House members have written a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asking the agency to publicly release figures detailing how many Americans suffer from “long COVID,” including how many women and people of color are affected. Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Don Beyer (D-VA) said it is “critical” for Congress and the American public to have access to data relating to long COVID “in order to inform policymaking and protect the public’s health.”
Another reason for Child Tax Credit expansion? Smarter babies.
David Elliot,
January 28, 2022
If you are looking for even more evidence that extending the expanded Child Tax Credit is good public policy, consider this: a breakthrough new study suggests that such payments can make babies smarter. The study, released this week by the National Academy of Sciences, did not involve the CTC payments. However, it did examine low-income families who received just over $300 in monthly cash assistance during the first year of their children’s lives. It found that infants in families receiving the payments displayed more high-frequency brain waves when they reached 12 months of age.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship January 21, 2022
CHN Staff,
January 21, 2022
Biden’s first year edition. As President Biden marks his first year in office, the pandemic continues to exert its toll on the nation’s health care system and economy and presents a significant challenge that the Biden Administration has worked to address since Inauguration Day. At the same time, as we assess the President’s first year, we can see there is much to celebrate. 2021 witnessed unprecedented growth and recovery – and it did not happen by accident. The country experienced record job gains and a historic drop in unemployment.
Continuing King’s ‘revolution of values’
CHN Staff,
January 14, 2022
On January 15, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was leaving a planning meeting for the Poor People’s Campaign when he was called back into the room. It was his birthday — his last, it would turn out. The staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference would usually give King a new suit, but this year they wanted to make him laugh. Xernona Clayton teased, “We know how fond you are of our president Lyndon Johnson,” which got a laugh. Then she pulled out a metal cup engraved: “We are cooperating with Lyndon’s War on Poverty. Drop coins and bills in cup.”
Where’s my Child Tax Credit?
David Elliot,
January 13, 2022
For the past six months, more than 61 million children in roughly 36 million families across the U.S. have received a monthly payment of $250 or $300 per child. Today, some parents may be surprised – in a very bad way – to learn that the monthly payments have ended. Tax credits that would have landed in families’ bank accounts beginning Friday, January 14 won’t happen because the Senate could not agree to extend them.
