03.17.21

Durbin Meets with Illinois Diaper Bank Organizations

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met virtually with Loving Bottoms, Share Our Spare, Keeping Families Covered, and Cradles to Crayons – Illinois member organizations of the National Diaper Bank Network – to discuss diaper needs in Illinois in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the work the organizations are doing to get diapers to families in need. Durbin discussed President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and his support for the End Diaper Need Act.

“Diaper needs affected low-income families before the pandemic, but diaper banks across the country have seen demand for their services double or quadruple during COVID as families have suffered job loss. Diapers are a basic essential and I believe we must do more to help parents nationwide afford this basic health need. These diaper bank organizations have done incredible work on the ground in our state – and President Biden’s American Rescue Plan will aid their efforts to lift children out of poverty,” Durbin said. 

The American Rescue Plan included critical temporary provisions projected to cut child poverty in half and lift more than five million children out of poverty in 2021.  The expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) increases the maximum credit amount to $3,600 for young children under six and $3,000 for children ages six to 17.  It also makes the CTC fully refundable.  The CTC expansion alone will cut overall child poverty by 45 percent and cut poverty by 52 percent for Black children; 45 percent for Hispanic children, and 61 percent for indigenous children. 

The bipartisan End Diaper Need Act, which Durbin introduced with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), would assist low-income families in obtaining diapers by: providing additional funding to the Social Services Block Grant Program for diapers; allowing children with medically complex health issues to receive 200 diapers per month through Medicaid; and allowing individuals to use their Health Savings Accounts for diaper purchases.  

A photo of Durbin’s Zoom meeting is available here. 

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