News Round-up: June 19, 2017

News Round-up: June 19, 2017

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, which highlights the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) as critical policies to reduce child poverty and ensure better educational and health outcomes. The KIDS COUNT Data Book ranks states on overall child-wellbeing and proposes policy solutions that would make the U.S. a better place for kids to grow up (Arkansas Matters, Great Falls Tribune, Bowling Green Daily News, The 74).
• Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ivanka Trump are teaming up to promote “pro-family tax reform initiatives” as Congress begins to consider tax reform legislation. The two are hoping to build support for the CTC, which Rubio has long supported, and paid family leave and child care proposals, which Ivanka Trump advocated for during her father’s presidential campaign (National Review, Politico, Bloomberg).
• Lawmakers in California passed a state budget, which included a provision to expand the state’s EITC. The budget now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for his expected signature (The Fresno Bee, KPCC, San Bernardino Sun, Charlotte Observer, The Daily Independent).
• Bernie Mazyck, president and CEO of the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development, thanked the state legislature for helping working families by creating a state-level EITC (Charleston Regional Business Journal).
• The Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF) released a new brief about how the EITC can improve health outcomes and birthweights for kids growing up in families who collect the credit (LIHF).