CDF and members of the Automatic Benefit for Children (ABC) coalition recommend that the IRS continue to allow families to file taxes using a simplified filing tool to receive the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and other critical benefits. This tool should be available at the beginning of 2022 and on an ongoing basis. A permanent, simplified filing process is a critical component of a comprehensive strategy to ensure that all eligible families access the CTC, and it reaches the families who need it the most.

CDF joined other leading child advocacy organizations to call on Congress to further extend USDA’s nationwide waiver authority to September 30, 2022 to give USDA the flexibility needed to respond to the pandemic as well as its aftermath, and to ensure that the federal child nutrition programs continue to operate and provide healthy snacks and meals to students.

We urge Congress to protect the size and scope of the package and the critical investments that will reduce food insecurity, poverty, and racial disparities and improve nutrition in this country.

USDA's authority to provide a nationwide waiver, even if it increases program costs, is set to expire on September 30, 2021. We, the undersigned organizations, ask Congress to extend USDA’s nationwide waiver authority to September 30, 2022 to ensure they have the flexibility needed to respond to the pandemic and ensure that the federal child nutrition programs continue to operate and provide healthy snacks and meals to the students who need them.