What Has André Carson Done On Child Poverty?

One in Four Indianapolis Children Lives in Poverty. 18 Years. No Comprehensive Response.

Wednesday, April 15

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Indianapolis, IN — One in four children in Indianapolis lives in poverty.

 

Not struggling. Not behind. In poverty. Without reliable access to food, stable housing, adequate healthcare, or the basic conditions that make childhood survivable let alone the foundation for a life that goes somewhere.

 

This is not a new crisis. It didn’t emerge overnight. For 18 years, while André Carson has represented this city in Congress, child poverty in Indianapolis has remained among the highest of any major American city. The children growing up poor in this district today were not yet born when Carson first took office. An entire generation has come of age in poverty on his watch.

 

What has the response been?

 

Carson has voted for the right bills when they came to the floor. He supported the American Rescue Plan's expanded Child Tax Credit, a policy that cut child poverty nearly in half nationally in 2021 before it expired at the end of that year. He’s expressed support for early childhood investment in public statements and interviews.

 

But the expanded Child Tax Credit expired. Child poverty surged back. And the congressman representing one of the most child-impoverished districts in America hasn’t made restoring and making permanent that credit a defining public fight of his tenure. No sustained pressure campaign. No legislation authored. No hearing called. No use of the platform of this office to force the national conversation that a crisis of this magnitude demands.

 

Child poverty isn’t a peripheral issue. It’s the root system underneath almost every other problem this series has examined. The youth violence crisis has roots in child poverty. The educational achievement gap has roots in child poverty. The housing instability, the food insecurity, the mental health crisis, the cycle of incarceration…all of it connects back to what happens to children in their earliest years when the conditions for healthy development are absent.

 

A member of Congress who truly treated child poverty as the emergency it is would look different than what Indianapolis has had. They’d be the loudest voice in Washington for a permanent expanded Child Tax Credit. They’d fight for universal pre-K funding that reaches Indianapolis families who can’t afford private childcare. They’d push for WIC expansion, Head Start full funding, and every federal lever available to close the gap between what Indianapolis children need and what they have.

 

That fight hasn’t been visible. The poverty rate among Indianapolis children hasn’t meaningfully moved.

 

One in four children. Eighteen years. The math is not complicated. The accountability isn’t optional.

 

"One in four children in Indianapolis lives in poverty," Hornedo said. "That’s a moral emergency, an emergency that has persisted for the entire 18 years André Carson has represented this city. The expanded Child Tax Credit showed us what's possible with child poverty cut nearly in half in a single year. Then it expired. Where was the fight to make it permanent? Where was the congressman using every tool available to make sure Indianapolis children didn't get left behind again? The children of this district deserved that fight. They’re still waiting for it."

 

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This is part of the Hornedo campaign's daily accountability series, What Has André Carson Done?, running through May 1st. Learn more at georgehornedo.com.

 

Indianapolis deserves more than a vote in Washington. It deserves a congressman who uses the full platform of the office to fight for federal resources, to force the conversation at every level of government, and to show up for this community before the cameras arrive. That's the standard. That's what's been missing.

 

RECORD CHECK: The Center for Effective Lawmaking ranks Congressman Carson 197th out of 220 House Democrats in legislative effectiveness. Of his claimed 22 bills signed into law, 2 are standalone enacted bills—the Ariel Rios Federal Building naming and the Kennedy-King National Commemorative Site Act. 

 

73% of Congressman Carson's campaign funding comes from PACs, much of it from corporate PACs including AES Indiana, BlackRock, and defense contractors. Only 7% comes from small-dollar donors.

 

When Julia Carson held this seat, Indianapolis was a competitive Democratic stronghold that helped power statewide wins. Under André Carson, the 7th Congressional District has become the worst in Indiana for voter turnout and Democrats haven't won statewide since 2012.