I’m sure you recognize the many difficulties of being a parent and understand how expensive it is to care for our young ones. Unfortunately for parents, things have only gotten worse thanks to the misguided economic policies of this administration.  

Under the president’s economic plan, the cost of living continues to rise while take-home pay is stagnant and far too many Americans are either out of work or working part time. From 2004 to 2012, annual costs for clothing, food, child care, and education for a child rose by hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, the child tax credit remains at $1,000.

When you look at how our economy is languishing and its impact on hard-working families, you can then calculate the true damage being done to folks who are doing their best to raise a family. The Department of Agriculture in its annual report on child expenditures came up with the following astounding statistics which are based on the average annual cost of raising a child from newborn to two years of age.

The yearly cost to clothe a child for a year in 2004 was $350 while in 2012 that cost jumped to $660, an 89 percent increase. In 2004, the yearly cost to feed a child was $980 but in 2012 those costs increased to $1,190 for a 21 percent increase. But there is more - in 2004, the average per year cost of childcare was $1,020 and in 2012 those costs increased by 107 percent to $2,120.

When you look at those numbers and then consider the child tax credit still stands at 2004 levels, you realize that parents are really getting squeezed. That is why I supported passage of the Child Tax Credit Improvement Act which will update the child tax credit and index it to inflation to make sure families can keep more of their hard-earned money to raise the next generation.

It is my hope that this bipartisan bill, which is critical to America’s parents, will receive similar support in the Senate. The Senate continues to not act on the more than 321 House bills we’ve passed in the last year and a half that are designed to improve our economy and help our citizens. However, I am hopeful the Senate will at least act on this bill.

As a father and grandfather, I remember all too well the sacrifices that parents have to make each day to try and make ends meet while providing for their children. Each day I hear from another Missouri family trying to find ways to overcome an economic deck that has been stacked against them by the government.

Every dollar that a mother or father has in his or her pocketbook is another opportunity to provide for his or her family and I believe that by supporting an increase in the federal child tax credit we can ensure that more of our very young children will have a chance to succeed in a very tough economic world.

CONTACT US: As always, for those of you with Internet access, I encourage you to visit my official website. For those without access to the Internet, I encourage you to call my offices in Jefferson City (573-635-7232) Washington, Mo. (636-239-2276), or Wentzville (636-327-7055) with your questions and concerns. If you want even greater access to what I am working on, please visit my YouTube site, Facebook page, and keep up-to-date with Twitter.