Bread Applauds Senate Passage of the American Rescue Plan COVID Relief Bill

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Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World today applauded Senate passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The legislation contains numerous provisions that will help people who are struggling with hunger and poverty. Bread urged the House to immediately pass the amended bill and for President Joe Biden to quickly sign it into law.

“We are thankful the Senate has joined the House of Representatives in passing this much-needed bill,” said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World. “The American Rescue Plan will help the millions of people who continue struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table. Just as importantly the bill will cut child poverty nearly in half – giving parents and children new hope and better opportunities.” 

Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey reports that 1 in 7 families with children in the U.S. are not getting enough to eat because they cannot afford it. The UN World Food Program warns that 270 million people globally could face extreme hunger this year.

Bread supported many of the provisions in the bill that address hunger and poverty. These include the extensions of the 15 percent increase to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the pandemic unemployment insurance programs, the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), debt relief for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (Black, Latino, Indigenous, and others), and robust funding for the international COVID-19 response, among others.

“God calls us to meet the needs of those who are most vulnerable due to the impacts of hunger and poverty. The one-year expansion of the CTC will do more to reduce hunger among our nation’s children than any single policy has in decades,” added Cho. 

 

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