Every culture has its famous myths, such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster, and the world of politics is no different. Take, for example, President Joe Biden's claims that he is a unifier or that " Bidenomics" is working .

The president offered another mythical claim last month when he said that “we cut child poverty by nearly half … largely by expanding the Child Tax Credit.” He then blamed rising poverty on “congressional Republicans’ refusal to extend the enhanced Child Tax Credit.” Ultimately, Biden’s finger-pointing only shows his weakness and need to blame others for his own policy failures.

The president’s argument focuses on the expanded child tax credit , which was in place for one year as a result of Democrats’ March 2021 American Rescue Plan. That partisan legislation sharply increased the value of the CTC, provided it in monthly installments in the second half of 2021, and paid it for the first time to parents who don’t work , effectively reviving work-free federal welfare checks that ended a generation ago on a bipartisan basis .

It shouldn’t be surprising that temporarily issuing bigger government checks to tens of millions of families increased their income and thus reduced child poverty. But the massive deficit spending in the ARP and other trillion-dollar bills also contributed to higher inflation , which disproportionately hurts lower-income families . Economist Mark Zandi found the typical household today pays on average $709 more per month due to inflation than two years ago — far exceeding the maximum CTC for two children of $600 per month temporarily paid then.