The expansion of the economy alone has done little to push down the child-poverty rate. Not taking government benefits and tax policies into account, the rate has barely budged since the late 1960s, going from 27.4 percent in 1967 to 25.1 percent in 2016. But after accounting for government benefits and tax credits, it has dropped to its all-time low. All in all, the government’s policies moved 38 percent of kids who would otherwise be poor above the poverty line in 2016, the report estimated. “It’s striking to see how much the strength of the safety net has increased over time,” Trisi said. “That’s very good news.”

The Poverty Rate for American Children Under 18, by Year

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Despite the recent decline, the United States still has a far higher child-poverty rate than other high-income countries, with devastating short- and long-term effects. When children grow up in impoverished households—a particular concern for children of color, whose poverty rate is triple that of white children—it does not just mean worse grades, missed days of school, and skipped meals, researchers have found. It has profound, long-term effects, in terms of health, educational achievement, earnings, and even mortality.

According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States’ child-poverty rate is significantly higher than that in 30 other industrialized economies, including Poland, Mexico, and Estonia, as well as countries like Japan, Germany, and France. “Child poverty remains far too high in this country, particularly given how wealthy our country is,” Shapiro said. “It’s still higher than in other, comparably wealthy countries. And even though government programs have expanded, we still do far less to reduce child poverty than other nations.” Many European countries, for instance, pay cash allowances to lower-income families with young children.

The new child-poverty figures come as bipartisan support is building for an expansion of the Child Tax Credit, an expansion that could potentially reduce the child-poverty rate even further. The credit, established during the Clinton presidency, is currently worth as much as $1,000 per child. The Republican Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Marco Rubio of Florida have led a push to increase that sum significantly, a policy initiative Democrats have broadly supported. This month, a prominent group of conservative think tanks and scholars—among them Ramesh Ponnuru of the National Review, the Family Research Council, and the Niskanen Center— launched a campaign to increase the size of the credit as well.

The Republican tax framework released with fanfare last week did contain some language gesturing towards a larger Child Tax Credit. But the plan might not end up helping low-income families with kids, due to the way the credits, exemptions, and deductions in the plan are structured. “Unfortunately, the Big Six wouldn’t reduce child poverty at all, and in the long run would probably increase child poverty,” Shapiro said, because low-income programs would likely be cut to pay for the regressive tax cuts in the proposal.