Listen to the Telephone Town Hall HERE

Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet held a telephone town hall to provide an update on the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion and to answer Coloradans’ questions. Bennet was joined on the call by special guests George Welsh, Superintendent, Cañon City School District; Tracy Dorland, Superintendent, Jeffco Public School District; and John Stanley, Taxpayer Advocate Group Manager, Colorado Taxpayer Advocate Service. 

“In my view, the expanded Child Tax Credit is the biggest investment Washington has made in kids and families in more than a generation. It’s the most progressive change to the tax code in my lifetime, and what it means is, a few days from now, on July 15, 39 million families across the country will receive the first monthly payment of the expanded Child Tax Credit,” said Bennet during the town hall. “I think we have a historic opportunity to invest in kids and families to transform not only their future, but America’s future as well and I’m going to do everything I can to make this expanded Child Tax Credit permanent in the days ahead.”

“My hopes are that families take advantage of this to improve food security,” said Welsh during the town hall. “There are lots of communities across the country making sure kids can eat, but I also know there are a lot of adults who struggle with that, who sometimes go without food so kids can go with it. It’s also a great opportunity to level participation. Those things in the community kids might participate in, whether it’s school programs, clubs, organizations, athletics, I would encourage families to make sure their kids can engage in a level playing field with other kids in the community.”

“The bottom line is that many families in our communities are struggling week to week and month to month with necessities including, but not limited to, mortgage and rent payments, childcare, healthy food, and internet connectivity,” said Dorland during the town hall. “It’s not just [for] families who we think about as the most highly socioeconomically impacted, it really is [for] families who have two incomes and are still really trying to make ends meet. So we’re excited and hopeful that our families use these [CTC] funds for the needs we’re seeing in Jefferson County.”

In March, President Joe Biden signed into law a one-year expansion of the CTC, based on Bennet’s American Family Act, in the American Rescue Plan Act. In his American Families Plan, Biden proposed permanent, full refundability of the CTC and an extension of the Rescue Plan’s CTC expansion through 2025.

Bennet continues to work with the administration and his colleagues in Congress to ensure the entire CTC expansion is made permanent. 

A recording of the telephone town hall is available HERE.