Guest column: The child tax credit expansion is a lifeline - Mark Rubio wants to take It away

When COVID-19 first hit, I thought I would be able to get by without any major problems. I could continue running the small marketing business I own from my home. My household — with just me and my son — was small enough that I didn’t have to worry as much as others about coming into contact with someone who had the virus. And like most other people, I figured the economic downturn would only last a few months.

But when my clients started cutting their budgets, I knew I would have to find another job. When I did find other work, it was a fraction of the income I was making before. As a disabled veteran, I’m lucky to get benefits that help with the cost of health care, but the past year has been a struggle. I’ve had to hustle and pick up jobs where I could find them to make ends meet. 

Sadly, my story isn’t unique. Parents across Florida have struggled to keep their families afloat while dealing with the high costs of child care and other essentials. But over the past few months, we’ve had a lifeline in the expanded Child Tax Credit. Millions of families are benefiting from these monthly tax cuts that help pay the bills and have lifted 3.5 million children across the country out of poverty.

The tax cut I get each month is a massive relief that has made everything from paying for gas to affording groceries easier. With our governor playing politics with food aid funds, the CTC has been even more essential. Its timing in the middle of each month helps cover unexpected expenses that have almost always shown up, and it’s proven to be invaluable during this tough economic climate.

With so many families across our state in need, it was disappointing to see elected officials from Florida vote against the bill that expanded the Child Tax Credit earlier this year. Senator Marco Rubio in particular has gone further and repeatedly attacked this new policy, even as millions of Florida families like mine have benefited.

It’s clear why Rubio is doing this. He couldn’t muster the political courage to work across the aisle earlier this year and support the bill that created these tax cuts, so instead he’s trying to score points by attacking it. If Rubio spent time talking with parents like me who are relying on these tax cuts instead of playing partisan political games, he’d see that this program is helping us meet the rising costs of daily life that he’s done little to fight.

Congress is preparing to vote for another bill that will help lower costs for families like me by tackling child care, health care, and education expenses. Included in that bill could be an extension of the Child Tax Credit expansion, but Rubio has pledged to vote against it and do everything in his power to stop it. If Marco Rubio continues to push his own political agenda at the expense of working parents like me, then he doesn’t deserve to be reelected next November.

Tiffany McDonald is a mother, a veteran, and owner of TMI Agency, a marketing firm in  Jacksonville