[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S867-S868]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. OBAMA (for himself, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Durbin, and Mr. 
        Kerry):
  S. 2257. A bill to provide for an enhanced refundable credit for 
families who resided in the Hurricane Katrina disaster area on August 
28, 2005; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Hurricane 
Katrina Working Family Tax Relief Act of 2006. I am proud to introduce 
this bill, along with Senators Landrieu, Durbin, and Kerry, to keep a 
promise the President made to rebuild the Gulf Coast in the wake of 
Hurricane Katrina. Last week the Senate approved a $70 billion bill 
laden with tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected. This bill, 
which costs less than 1 percent as much, uses a proven tool in our tax 
code--the child tax credit--to extend aid to low-income working 
families affected by Hurricane Katrina.
  Currently, the child credit allows families with qualifying children 
to receive a credit of $1,000 per child against their Federal income 
tax. Unfortunately, families that earn less than $11,000 get no benefit 
from the refundable child credit. That means that a child is left out 
of the credit even if her parent works full time at minimum wage, which 
has not increased since 1997. And the child doesn't get the full 
benefit of the $1,000 credit until her parent earns close to $18,000, 
or even more if the child has siblings. And if her parents' income does 
not keep up with inflation, for any reason, the

[[Page S868]]

value of the credit drops or even disappears.
  We all know of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. It will 
be a long time before families on the Gulf Coast can rebuild their 
lives. Many of them have seen their homes destroyed, their jobs 
eliminated, their families separated, and their lives irrevocably 
changed. Unfortunately, the Federal response so far has been inadequate 
to get these families effectively back on their feet. We are now 
learning of thousands of evacuees getting kicked out of their hotel 
rooms because FEMA has stopped paying the bills.
  We can do better for these families. Life was hard for many of them 
even before Katrina hit. Prior to the hurricane, there were over 2 
million people living below poverty in the affected States. In some of 
the affected counties and parishes, more than 1 in 4 children lived 
below the poverty level.
  In Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, for example, more than 
900,000 children under 17-years-old were so poor that they got no child 
tax credit or only a partial credit. These States had among the highest 
rates in the Nation of children too poor to get the full credit.
  This bill will provide necessary assistance to many of these 
families. The bill eliminates the income threshold that excluded all 
children in families with less than $11,000 of income. With this bill, 
the children of low-income working parents affected by Hurricane 
Katrina will no longer be denied the child credit.
  It's simple: if you work, your kids get a benefit. This bill provides 
a partial credit starting with the first dollar of a parent's income 
for families who lived in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. You 
work, your kids get a benefit. If you don't work, no benefit.
  That's a commonsense way to support families with children, 
especially families that have experienced the huge cost--psychological 
and financial--of a natural disaster.
  This bill is also narrowly tailored and fiscally responsible. It 
provides short-term support targeted at families affected by the 
hurricane, and its costs can easily be absorbed within the $97 billion 
already committed to hurricane relief.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill, which will enable hundreds 
of thousands of this country's most disadvantaged children to see an 
increase in their credit. Katrina offered a reminder of poverty in our 
own country. Let's not forget so quickly. We owe it to the American 
people to do something to provide a chance for our neediest children to 
rebuild their lives with dignity, hope, and opportunity.
                                 ______