‘I can breathe a little bit more.’ Millions to receive child tax credit payments

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A Brooklyn Starbucks supervisor who aspires to be a doctor will pay the rent and build savings for her son. Across the country, a San Francisco area mother who attends college is getting back to class herself now that she can more easily afford after-school care for her youngest child.

Those are some of the ways about 39 million U.S. households could benefit once they start receiving monthly federal checks Thursday as part of a massive expansion of the child tax credit. The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University estimates that the expansion can reduce the U.S. child poverty rate by up to 45%.