Anti-Poverty Efforts Should Continue

As they negotiate the details of the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act, members of Congress should find ways to continue unemployment benefits and reject proposals to exclude children of immigrant families from the Child Tax Credit, said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The economy is still leaving too many people without work,” wrote Bishop Blaire in a letter to Congress on Feb. 9. “When the economy fails to generate sufficient jobs, there is a moral obligation to help protect the life and dignity of unemployed workers and their families. We also must protect those programs that help low-income workers escape poverty and raise their children in dignity.”