Here in the U.S., new data shows the poverty rate among children more than doubled last year due to record inflation and the expiration of the child tax credit. The pandemic relief helped decrease the child poverty rate to a historic low of 5.2% in 2021; that figure surged to over 12% after conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and congressional Republicans opposed an extension of the relief. Manchin was a decisive vote. He falsely claimed some low-income parents used the payments to buy drugs, when data showed most families used the money to buy food and help with rent. The Debt Collective said on social media, “Joe Manchin’s legacy includes artificially manufacturing child poverty for no reason other than his callous disregard for human beings.” Overall poverty also increased in 2022 to 12.4%, up from 7.8% in 2021, with more than 37 million U.S. residents living in poverty. It’s the largest single-year jump ever recorded in the U.S.