Right around the time I heard lawmakers were considering a year-end package of tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, my 12-year-old son’s bike broke. It felt like just another thing I couldn’t fix for him. Yet here are our lawmakers “fixing” things for those with the fewest problems. That’s unacceptable when there are so many ordinary families who need help.
Archives: Voices
The opioid crisis: No more empty seats at our holiday tables
Where I live, the seasons change fast. We’ve barely put away our jack-o’-lanterns in Kansas City when a cold wind blows in from the prairie, bringing down leaves — and soon after that, ice storms and snow. But no matter how cold it gets, we always look forward to seeing family and friends over the holidays. We all want our homes to be filled with joy, comfort, and the people we love the most. But many of us will miss someone at the holiday table, because our country’s overdose crisis now touches almost every family and community.
COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, December 2, 2022
The no relief for corporations unless we help families edition. Congress has returned for its lame-duck session, and corporate lobbyists are frantically pressuring members to approve business tax breaks before they leave later this month. But families and human needs advocates are telling their Senators that expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC) must be a priority in any year-end tax package. In particular, advocates are insisting on full refundability for the CTC so that 19 million children in low-income families across the U.S. are not excluded from receiving all or any of the current $2,000 per-child CTC.
Long Covid: ‘All hands on deck’
April 18, 2020, is a day that Heather Elizabeth Brown will never forget. It was the day that after receiving countless negative COVID-19 tests throughout the month and being sent home from the hospital twice, Brown was finally admitted as a COVID-19 patient. Her journey would then include a 31-day medically induced coma, a stroke, blood clots, and two blood transfusions. Now, more than two years later, Brown is still feeling the effects of her COVID-19 diagnosis.
Ten things we’re thankful for this Thanksgiving
Despite some hard times this year, there is much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here are ten things that come to our mind at CHN.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Speaker Pelosi’s oft-repeated “For the children” exhortation was not just a catch-phrase, but a commitment to improve the lives of children and their families. In a time when far too many elected officials substitute aggrandizement for leadership, a look at the career of Nancy Pelosi is a good reminder of what real leadership can do.
Antisemitism in the U.S.: A state of emergency
Antisemitism is a chronic disease and we’re currently living through an outbreak. But we have the power to prevent antisemitic acts from continuing to spread.
We’re here because we earned it.
Race-conscious admissions policies help schools see the full picture. When those policies are reversed we see that the whole student body suffers.
COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, November 11, 2022
The Medicaid and health edition. Health care was on the ballot in several states this past Tuesday. In South Dakota, 42,500 additional people will eventually be eligible for Medicaid benefits after voters approved Medicaid expansion. In Oregon, voters approved an historic measure that amends the state’s constitution to mandate that all residents have access to “cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care.” And in Arizona, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 209, which reduces the amount of interest creditors can charge for health debt from 10 percent to 3 percent. Meanwhile, on the federal level, there are urgent health care issues that Congress must address when members return later this month.
In time of inflation, support still growing for bringing back expanded Child Tax Credit
Last week, Voices for Human Needs reported on renewed efforts throughout the U.S. to urge Congress to once again expand the Child Tax Credit. As families struggle with rising prices — everything from the food they buy to rising rents to increased energy costs — action is needed more than ever. This week, the calls for CTC expansion continued, with new stories in six states.
Unspoken promises and the threat to the American Dream
As the child of immigrant parents, there are certain unspoken promises you make to them. You promise to do well in school, stay out of trouble, go to college, and get a good job. You promise to fight through the systemic barriers and racism to achieve the American Dream they so longed for. You promise to make their sacrifices worth it.
411 groups tell Congress: Enact House-proposed spending levels in FY 2023 Appropriations
More than 411 local, state, and national groups signed a letter delivered today to every House and Senate office calling on Congress to agree to House-proposed spending levels for domestic and international (non-defense) discretionary programs in an omnibus funding bill needed by December 16. A copy of the letter, along with the 411 signers, is available here.