Behind the gigantic amount of the American stimulus plan, the Biden administration is making a resolutely social turn with the aim of reducing child poverty by half.
Read also: Decisive legislative victory for Joe Biden's stimulus plan
"The American bailout represents a radical change in social policy in the United States,"
said Olivia Golden, director of the Center for law and social policy.
Because it includes a myriad of
"crucial measures to meet the real needs of children, young people, families and workers," she
notes.
The law finally approved by Congress on Wednesday will be signed by Joe Biden on Friday.
The measures totaling 1.9 trillion dollars will boost US growth this year, some economists expecting at least 7%, thanks to the checks that will soon be distributed to Americans.
In total, $ 400 billion will support consumer spending.
But beyond the economic impact, experts praise ambitious social measures.
The Covid-19 pandemic has shed a harsh light on inequalities in the United States where there is no social safety net and where the savings rate is low or even nonexistent for the most modest households as well as minorities. black and Hispanic.
Also, the economic recession that suddenly occurred in the spring of 2020 - the worst since World War II - has worsened poverty.
By signing two decrees on January 22 to strengthen food aid and social rights, Joe Biden denounced the
“scandal”
of the hunger crisis.
“One in seven households in America, and more than one in five in black and Latino households, report that they do not have enough to eat,”
he lamented.
"This includes almost 30 million adults and 12 million children."
Reduce child poverty by more than 50%
One of the most remarkable measures foreseen by the Biden plan is undoubtedly the expansion of tax credits for childcare providers from which the most modest households were previously excluded.
The Democrats have decided to shake up this tax advantage by not only making it more generous but also by changing the conditions of resources to collect it.
The goal: to make the child tax credit accessible to all children except in wealthy homes, sums up the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), an independent research institute.
The law now provides $ 3,600 for children up to 5 years old and up to $ 3,000 for children 6 to 17 years old, compared to $ 2,000 previously.
"If the plan is fully implemented this year, it could reduce child poverty by more than 50%," said
Zach Parolin, professor at Columbia University's Poverty Research Center.
“It goes without saying that this is a dramatic drop (...) with enormous advantages for families with children in particular,” he
explains.
The institute also conducted a study to calculate the financial impact.
"An analysis of the cost (...) of expanding the child tax credit, concludes that an investment of $ 100 billion would yield about $ 800 billion in return through improved health," income, etc.
children and parents, ”
explains Chris Wimer, one of the researchers.
But for these effects to be lasting, these measures must still be made permanent, he emphasizes.
It would then be
"historic in the development of the welfare state"
, underlines Zach Parolin.
Investments in the future
The next task of the government will also be
"to add crucial missing elements, such as paid family leave"
, also believes Olivia Golden.
For Bradley Hardy, professor at American University, the government must see this as an investment in the future when "
there is substantial evidence (...) that access to economic resources during childhood can stimulate a range of longer-term socio-economic outcomes ”
.
“How these tax credit extensions can reduce child poverty is an important motivation for policymakers, a motivation that also resonated in the Blair years
,
” he
adds.
On Tuesday,
New York Times
reporter David Leonhardt
recalled that 22 years ago British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced an ambitious plan to fight child poverty in Britain.
“At the time, over 25% of British children lived in poverty,”
he writes.
"At the heart of the campaign was government support for families with children."