WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) voted to pass the bipartisan Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bipartisan package to aid families, disaster victims and small business owners passed with a majority of Democrats, 357-70.

“Families with children can breathe a little easier as the expanded child tax credit (“CTC”) will put money back into their pockets so they can better afford food, clothing and child care for their kids. The CTC would help approximately 33,000 children in Florida’s 14^th Congressional District - mostly from families with income under $40,000 a year. The Child Tax Credit works. Childhood poverty across America dropped dramatically after The Democratic-controlled Congress passed an expanded CTC in the American Rescue Plan (“ARP”).  While House Republicans refused to reinstate the ARP level of relief for families, I am gratified that the bill is estimated to lift as many as half a million children above the poverty line,” said Castor.

Castor continued, “Democrats fought for incentives to build more housing that is attainable for families, and I intend to champion more affordable housing across the Tampa Bay area and oppose Republican efforts to provide handouts to wealthy corporations and tax cheats.”

Among its provisions, the bill:

• Lowers the cost of housing by enhancing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which will help develop more than 200,000 affordable housing units
• Delivers significant tax relief to victims of natural disasters
• Confronts child poverty by partially restoring the expanded Childhood Tax Credit House Republicans let expire, which will benefit approximately 33,000 kids in the Tampa Bay area
  • Examples of families who could benefit from the expanded CTC*
    • A single parent with two children who earns $13,000 working part-time as a home health aide would see their credit double (a $1,575 gain) in the first year.
    • A single parent with two children who earns $22,000 as a child care worker would gain $675 in the first year.
    • A married couple — with one parent earning $32,000 as a nursing assistant and the other parent staying home to take care of their three young children — would gain $975 in the first year.

*Data from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities