Contributed Photo: Paul Gosar
Column By Delina DiSanto/Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 4th Congressional district.
Being a parent is hard, but being a parent during a global pandemic and economic downturn is even harder. How do you explain to a young child what a virus is, why their school is closed, or why they can’t hug their grandparents? Even harder: How do you explain that money is tight and your family is going to struggle to get by? For a third of Arizonans, this heartbreaking question became their reality.
Because of the pandemic’s devastating economic fallout, countless parents lost their jobs, were forced to close their small businesses, struggled to pay their mortgages, and barely got by. Seven months ago, help arrived.
In response to this COVID-induced economic downturn, President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress passed the American Rescue Plan — a historic package that included a historic expansion of the child tax credit, delivering a much-needed tax cut to over ninety percent of Arizona’s families. For the first time ever, this tax credit is providing direct assistance to the tune of $250 to $300 per child each month, meaning that parents benefit from the tax relief when they need it most: Right now.
This week, thanks to President Biden, the families of more than 1.4 million Arizona children are receiving their fourth round of these payments and will use the money to help pay for anything from after-school care to school uniforms to groceries. After all, as any parent who has struggled can tell you, the cost of back-to-school essentials doesn’t disappear just because it’s been a rough year.
Ten years ago, this was my family. During the Great Recession, my husband and my construction company went under like so many other American small businesses. In one fell swoop, we lost our passion, our income, and our livelihood. These advanced and expanded child tax credit payments would have been a lifesaver for families that went through the Great Recession. What may seem like no big deal to my Congressman, Paul Gosar, and every other Republican in Congress who voted against this program would have helped my family through our darkest days.
Again and again, Paul Gosar has proven to us that he cares more about far-right conspiracy theorists and white nationalists than he does about Arizona’s families. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, an Independent, or a Republican – working to make sure that every Arizona child has enough food to eat should not be a partisan issue. No thanks to Gosar, this middle-class tax cut is going to lift 112,000 Arizona children out of poverty. I’m pretty sure every single Arizonan, maybe except for Gosar himself, can agree that is certainly something worth celebrating.
Like most other parents across the state of Arizona, I’ll do anything to provide for my kids. We have an obligation to set Arizona’s children up for the brightest future possible, and that starts by making sure that families have the support they need in times of crisis. Our families are the backbone of our community, and the families of Arizona’s fourth congressional district deserve a representative in Congress who will fight for them and their children. Unlike Paul Gosar, President Biden and Democrats in Congress fought for us and delivered a much-needed tax cut to over ninety percent of Arizona’s families. Arizona parents won’t soon forget that while Democrats were delivering for us, Paul Gosar and every Republican in Congress forgot about us.
The opinion expressed in this editorial is that of the author. Delina DiSanto is a Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 4th Congressional district.
