The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Carroll Conley is the executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine.
As an evangelical leader who joins with many who believe in the value of all life, this is a crucial hour to get the recently negotiated Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (H.R. 7024) across the finish line in Congress. With many Maine families struggling to pay for higher costs for food, housing, health care and energy, we have a rare opportunity to advance a tax package that helps mothers and fathers choose life and support their families while also strengthening businesses in our communities.
An oft-repeated accusation made against pro-lifers is that we care only for the unborn child. A child tax credit offers expecting parents the relief and financial support to keep and raise their children.
In addition to strengthening businesses in Maine through deductions for machinery, equipment, and U.S.-based research and experimentation investments, this bill enhances the child tax credit (CTC) to better serve families in need by adjusting the CTC for inflation so moms and dads will be able to provide for their kids. This iteration of CTC is especially helpful for a rural state like Maine benefiting an estimated 39,000 children under the age of 17 in our communities.
This legislation also stops penalizing parents for having more than one child and ensures support for growing families while also strengthening incentives to work for parents with earned income. It may also make abortion less thinkable, since many seeking abortion live below the poverty level or already have one or more children.
Congress has the opportunity within a limited window of time to enact a pro-family, pro-life tax policy that will provide immediate benefit to families in need. I am grateful for those in the U.S. House of Representatives who showed strong, bipartisan leadership to promote and protect American families and businesses, including Rep. Chellie Pingree.
This version of the Child Tax Credit has the support of a broad range of groups, including the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Council of Churches, the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, National Hispanic Pastors Association, Sojourners, Students for Life, and Concerned Women for America, among many others.
Now that it has passed the House, I ask Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King to support it and strengthen America for tomorrow.
