The bank accounts of parents across North Carolina might seem a little emptier this week when their monthly child tax credits fail to deposit on Jan. 15. Since July, qualifying parents have received $250 per child between 6 and 17 years of age, and $300 for children 5 and under through the American Rescue Plan. But the program allowing those advance, expanded payments expired in December and Congress didn’t pass legislation to renew it. The American Rescue Plan expanded the 2021 child tax credit given yearly from $2,000 to $3,000 for children between 6 and 17 and $3,600 for children 5 and under, with advanced payments made monthly and with more low-income families eligible. With the expiration, the 2022 tax credit reverts back to $2,000 and to the old eligibility rules, and would once again be paid out annually in income-tax refunds.

Democrats hoped to continue the monthly payments through the passage of President Joe Biden’s wide-ranging Build Back Better plan, but have so far not had enough support in the Senate to move the bill forward. Amy Cubbage, president of the North Carolina Partnership for Children, told McClatchy that the tax credit was a policy solution that worked for families and that it needs to be extended. She said families used the money to cover basic needs like food, housing, utilities and child care.

“Those extra dollars provided a safety net that helped keep families afloat during tough times, especially low-income families,” Cubbage said. “In fact, data shows that more than 300,000 North Carolina children are at risk of slipping back into poverty without an extension of the program.” Michelle Hughes, executive director of NC Child, called the expiration an “absolute tragedy” in a written statement to McClatchy. NC Child is a nonprofit that works statewide on public policies that it says will help North Carolina’s children thrive. Advocates believed expanding the child tax credit would help lift an estimated 140,000 North Carolina children out of poverty. Hughes said that includes six in 10 Native American children, more than half of Black children and nearly half of Latino children. “In 2021, Congress sent targeted tax breaks to our country’s low- and middle-income families with children — resulting in the biggest one-time decline in child poverty we have ever seen,” Hughes said. “Now we’re at risk of following that decline with a huge surge in child poverty, at a time when many families are struggling with loss of income again due to the pandemic. It’s unconscionable.” When negotiations on the $1.75 trillion social spending and climate policy bill ceased, Rep. Alma Adams, a Democrat from Charlotte, urged her colleagues to return to Congress and deal with the child tax credit before the start of 2022.

“Over 100,000 families in my district, as well as millions of families across the country, are counting on us to act,” Adams wrote in a news release. “If Republicans truly oppose the Child Tax Credit tax cut, let’s put them on record against tax relief and show American families who they really are.” That didn’t happen. White House officials call the Build Back Better plan the country’s framework to meet climate goals, create jobs and grow the economy. President Joe Biden proposed the legislation before his election and lawmakers planned to pass the bill before heading home for the holidays. Republican senators, including North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, have spoken out against the bill, saying that it threatens to increase taxes on the middle class and increase the nation’s debt. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer needs all 50 members of his caucus to pass the legislation but Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, raised concerns about social spending.

Manchin said in a news release that his concerns include what he believes is the $4.5 trillion cost to implement the bill and tied it to rising prices for gas, groceries and utilities. He added that the country’s ability to act on geopolitical concerns including tensions with Russia and China would be greatly hindered by adding to the debt. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat representing Wake County, said in a news release that before the expanded child tax credit 15% of North Carolina’s children lived in poverty. “The Build Back Better Act extends the life-changing tax cut and continues our historic progress toward reducing child poverty,” Ross said.