Diane Amdor

While we’re focusing on property taxes at the state policy level, the conversation about the Child Tax Credit is heating up again at the federal level. Unlike the Governor’s property tax proposal, which will likely result in a negative impact on low- and middle-income Nebraskans, the expanded federal Child Tax Credit back in 2021 cut […]

As President Biden noted in the State of the Union address, the 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit was an important tool for reducing child poverty and helping parents make ends meet. The Senate must vote soon on a bill that will benefit almost 16 million children across the country, including approximately 80,000 children

Remember back in 2021 when everyone in the US with kids got an extra few hundred dollars per month in their bank accounts? And then research showed that the expanded federal Child Tax Credit cut child poverty by 46%? We thought that was pretty great!  But since the end of the expanded Child Tax Credit,

On Friday, October 27, 2023, Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) released a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) expenditure plan for Federal Fiscal Years 2024 through 2027. DHHS stated that they are “committed to utilizing TANF funds to ensure needed services are delivered in an effective way to help Nebraskans achieve self-sufficiency.” 

During the 2023 session, the Nebraska Legislature took action to spend a greater portion of our annual Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and to spend down a portion of the TANF rainy day fund…but not in a way that will directly benefit the state’s lowest income families with children. When we say

The IRS will start to make monthly payments of the expanded Child Tax Credit from the American Rescue Plan on July 15, 2021. In Nebraska, roughly 434,000 children will benefit from this change, and approximately 36,000 children will be lifted above or closer to the poverty line. This unrestricted funding will have profound impacts on