The fate of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) is in the hands of the U.S. Senate.
Add your name to call on our Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey to pass this legislation!
Our children need the BBBA because it invests in child care, food and nutrition, health care, and housing. The investments that are included in the House bill have the collective potential to be the most transformative investments for children and families in decades. BBBA will transform the lives of thousands of Pennsylvania children's health, wellbeing, growth, and upward mobility for generations.
By signing this petition, we will add your name to a letter being sent to Senators Casey and Toomey. Read the full letter here but the key points are below. A few simple clicks could make the difference for a generation of children.
The BBBA will help families afford quality child care and preschool for their children.
With the BBBA, families would pay no more than 7% of their income on child care for children under six if they make less than 2.5 times Pennsylvania's median income ($241,946 for a family of 4). That will provide about 710,000 young children in Pennsylvania with quality care per year, or about 9 out of 10 young children. For example, a family of four with two young children earning $96,778 will pay a max of $565 per month in child care for young children. About 17% of preschool-age children in Pennsylvania currently have access to publicly funded pre-k; universal pre-kindergarten will allow 199,580 more 3- and 4-year-old children to have quality education.
The BBBA will ensure children and families have better access to food.
Approximately 15% of children in Pennsylvania live in food insecure households. BBBA expands free school meals to about 251,000 more students during the school year as well as provide 947,153 student's families with funds to purchase food throughout the summer.
The BBBA will offer stable and affordable housing options for families.
Rental assistance and access to homeownership provide stability for children. However, in Pennsylvania 720,000 renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent, making it hard families to afford other essentials like food and transportation. The BBBA housing voucher will benefit 11,800 households in Pennsylvania, providing about 9,300 children with a stable place to grow and develop.
The BBBA will improve Pennsylvania access to affordable health care.
Children need healthy parents and caregivers to thrive; health insurance allows adults to work and protects family incomes. There are approximately 122,000 uninsured Pennsylvanians. Nationally, the BBBA would provide over four million more people with free or low-cost health insurance through the health exchanges for the next four years. It would also making federal funding for CHIP permanent so children's health care would no longer be a political football.
The BBBA will support families struggling to make ends meet and cut child poverty in half.
The expansion of the child tax credit in 2021 has been the largest one-year reduction in child poverty in history. The BBBA would extend monthly payments of up to $300 for another year, benefiting 2,363,000 Pennsylvania children. In Pennsylvania, at least 57% of households used the credit to buy necessities such as food, clothing, and school-related items or services. When families with incomes under $25,000 get tax credits like this, children are healthier, and have a better chance of excelling in school, graduating from high school and college, and earning more in adulthood.