Shawn Crowell is a 2025 Summer Intern at The World Affairs Council of Harrisburg
Today, in the wealthiest country in the world, where people have been to the moon and back, a national travesty lies with 1 in 5 children: child poverty. That is 1 in 5 children in this country who go to bed hungry. These children live without stable housing and lack basic healthcare. The issue of child poverty is not just a moral failure; it is an economic one, and this level of poverty is unsustainable. Kids who grow up in this manner struggle in school, face health problems, and end up in poverty themselves as adults. What we are doing in the United States is not raising healthy children. No—we are raising criminals.
We know how to fix this, though.
We have programs like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the Child Tax Credit, which have proven effective time and again. When the Democratic-controlled Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit in 2021, child poverty dropped by nearly half in just one year. That’s not theoretical; those are the facts. Families used the money to cover expenses such as food, rent, school supplies, and medicine. This lifted millions out of poverty and proved we can change the system.
SNAP, also known as food stamps, is another lifeline. This program helps struggling families afford groceries so they and their children don’t have to go hungry. It’s one of the most efficient and effective anti-poverty programs we have.
Instead of expanding these programs, which lift people out of poverty today, we have a Congress that passed one of the most destructive pieces of legislation to these lifelines.
This “big beautiful bill” is a big stab at poor families. It proposes massive cuts to programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and housing assistance to fund billionaires and give them a $4 trillion tax cut. This bill is expected to cut an estimated $285 billion from SNAP. It cuts an estimated $1.1 trillion in healthcare and Medicaid—the foundation of youth healthcare. It adds more requirements and measures that gut the foundation of these nets and make it a nightmare to get benefits.
We are punishing families and children to make cuts so billionaires don’t have to pay.
Supporters of this bill will—and have—argued that cutting these programs “incentivizes” work or that it gives funds to people who “deserve” them. Let’s be upfront with the facts: most of these families do work, and every child and family is deserving of food. This only makes it harder to register for these programs and puts people who want to work but can’t find work in danger.
Programs like these are the backbone of poor families with children to feed. Not even including the cuts to the foundation of college, it’s programs like these that provide structure for parents in less well-off situations to reduce stress and raise children.
Let’s also bring facts into view. When the expanded Child Tax Credit ended in 2022, child poverty shot back up by 41%. This is immoral and could’ve been avoided by strengthening our systems, not pulling the rug out from under them.
As our children go hungry and grow up in broken homes, we must demand more from our leaders. Ending child poverty should be a national priority—not a political talking point. This is not left or right for people growing up in these conditions. It’s right or wrong.
Investing in children is investing in America’s future—making sure we are ahead of countries like China and developing the leaders of tomorrow. Money we spend today to feed children, educate them, and make it clear we will not let any child go hungry is money we get back through the future leaders of the world. This is not just a moral right but an intellectual one.
So the question can be asked: what should we do?
Questions do not always have right and wrong answers. This is one of them, but we have the facts to know what to do.
We must expand the Child Tax Credit to help families pay their bills and feed their children so we don’t teach them how to steal.
We must protect and expand SNAP and Medicaid. Child healthcare is a right, and we should make sure no child goes hungry or untreated.
We must make housing more affordable and accessible to low-income families. No family should go to bed cold or without power because the bills are too much.
And we must stop treating poverty as if it’s chosen. The fact is, it’s not.
The Trump administration has gone back on its promises to cut costs for families and “make America great again.” This big, beautiful bill is a crime against children who sleep at night wondering if they will get food the next day.
To those who passed this, this is not beautiful. It’s cruel and we will respond.
To everyone else, we have another path. We must ask ourselves if it is right that we live in a society that allows millions of children to go hungry simply because they were born into the wrong family.
Ask yourself: do you believe children should have every opportunity to succeed?
We must demand more from our leaders in Congress and the executive branch.
Works Cited
“Here’s what’s in the Senate’s version of the ‘big, beautiful bill.’” NBC News, 1 July 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/trump-big-beautiful-bill-senate-tax-medicaid-cuts-rcna216024. Accessed 5 August 2025.
Whiten, Jon. “Expanded Child Tax Credit is Key to Reducing Child Poverty, New Census Data Illustrate.” ITEP.org, 10 September 2024, https://itep.org/new-census-data-child-poverty-expanded-child-tax-credit/. Accessed 5 August 2025.
