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Amid soaring inflation and post-pandemic recovery, the US Census Bureau reports that the poverty rate in the US increased dramatically last year – the first major increase since 2009.

The poverty rate jumped almost 8 percentage points in one year, going from 4.6% in 2021 to 12.4% in 2022. The bureau says expiring pandemic programs are to blame, including refundable tax credits and stimulus payments.

Sadly, the child poverty rate saw a similar sharp increase. This came with the end of President Joe Biden’s Child Tax Credit, which provided parents up to $300 a month per child but ended at the beginning of 2022.

President Biden lay the blame directly on Congressional Republicans and stated that he will “continue to fight to restore the expanded Child Tax Credit.” At the time, however, Republicans said that continuing the credit could lead to fraud similar to other pandemic-induced policies.