How Much Is Your Kid Worth?

July 10, 2025

Republicans have a number in mind ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

July 10, 2025

Greetings, Meteor readers,

This weekend my child is attending her first day of soccer camp, and I’m so nervous and excited you’d think we were attending the NWSL draft. But save this email because one day we might be!

In today’s newsletter, we cover a sensitive subject: money. Plus, fun news for movie lovers and your weekend reading list.

From your newly minted hot soccer mom,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Tell your toddler to get a job: We need to talk about taxes. Don’t scroll away from me, this is important! As part of the new tax package passed last week in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” a number of permanent changes have been made to the child tax credit. And for millions of children, those changes are bad.

Here’s how it breaks down: For some, the dollar amount will actually increase; if you qualify for the full credit, you get $2,200, up from $2,000. But under the new changes, 2.7 million fewer children qualify than did last year.

Unsurprisingly, non-citizens are targeted; to receive the full amount, one parent in the household must have a Social Security number—which was not the case in previous years. The child must have one as well and have lived six months or more in the U.S. with their parent or guardian. (A family headed by an undocumented single parent would not receive the credit at all, even if the child is a citizen.)

In failing to write any new protections around eligibility–a dire oversight if you’re actually trying to help more families–the bill inadvertently raised income requirements. A two-parent household with two children has to earn a minimum income of $41,500 to qualify. (This minimum basically didn’t exist in 2024.) If your household earns less than the qualifying income, you may get around $1,700 per child or, in some cases, no money at all. (There is still a maximum, where joint filers making more than $400,000 receive less of the credit.)

These numbers change based on other filing factors, but the bottom line is this: Ultimately, about 19 million children are now blocked from receiving the full amount because their family’s income is too low. The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University found that 60 percent of children of single mothers will not be able to receive the full credit for the 2026 tax season. (That number goes down to 41 percent for children of single fathers. Hm.) When you pair these changes with the cuts to SNAP, early childhood education, and Medicaid, the picture of just how much the government hates low-income families becomes clear.

“They don’t give a fuck about us, man” was the first text I received when the BBB passed. Quite a few of my friends and family members are single parents, and while $2,000 once a year didn’t fix all of their problems, it had been a life raft that they looked forward to and depended on. Without it, they’ll be scrambling to cover things like school supplies or daycare payments. I couldn’t even consider having a second child (and just to be clear, Mom, I’m not) because the financial strain would be so great and the safety net so small. Republicans love to tell everyone to have more children, but they’re passing policies that ensure only certain kinds of families will have the financial means to do so.

There is, surprisingly, a sliver of hope in all this: state lawmakers. States can still tailor their tax codes to provide more robust child tax credit programs, which already exist in some states. If you don’t know your state’s policy or how to advocate for better, the Coalition on Human Needs has a ton of guides.

AND:

In a span of months (from March to June), the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights dismissed more than 3,000 discrimination complaints at what an insider told Politico was an “unheard of” pace. Part of the reason? Major cuts to that office—and an administration that is bent on limiting iwhat qualifies as discrimination. But the upshot, says Shiwali Patel of the National Women’s Law Center, is that parents and students “can’t rely on this administration to protect them from discrimination.”
You’ve probably heard that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is intent on revisiting the safety review of the (extremely safe) abortion drug mifepristone, and last month, the FDA said it would do so. No new restrictions have been announced, but clinicians are preparing for the worst because…well, history, really. Should the FDA place restrictions on mifepristone, which is typically used as a two-pill regimen with misoprostol, the next best option will be using just misoprostol, which research has shown to also be safe and effective. And if you’re worried misoprostol could be eliminated too (unlikely, but still), now is a great time to start planting mandrake in your window box or garden.
“Masculinity” and male mental health are hot topics these days, from the halls of Congress to humble dinner tables (hi, mine!). But if you want to actually get men talking about it, you might want to avoid certain words—like, well, “masculinity.” A new study from the organizations More in Common and Movember (yes, the mustache folks) finds that both men and women now “hear ‘toxic masculinity’ whenever the word ‘masculinity’ appears….[The term] appears to shut down rather than open up conversation.” What worked better? Talking about “what it means to be a man,” and, among men, telling personal stories about their own mental health and wellbeing.
Last month, Harvard Divinity School refused to publish the commencement speech of one of its graduates, Zehra Imam, because of her acknowledgement of the genocide in Gaza. Now, her entire speech and the painfully moving stories she shares of teaching poetry to Palestinian children is available to read in full. When explaining why she chose to focus on this in her speech, Imam writes, “I center these students with urgent desperation because time is running out…I center Palestine today not just because of its scale of atrocity but because of our complicity in it.”
Tomorrow, Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor will meet in the ring for the third time to finally settle the question of who the greatest women’s boxer of this generation actually is. Taylor-Serrano II was the most watched women’s sporting event ever—not just in boxing!—and Friday night’s fight, broadcast live on Netflix, may make history again. I hope Max Kellerman has been resting his voice.
Huntrix fans rejoice! The fictional girl group featured in Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters may be Oscar-bound. The studio is submitting the smash hit “Golden” for Best Original Song. If you have not seen this film or listened to this song at least 15 times, then honestly what else are you doing!? (Probably singing “Soda Pop.”)

WEEKEND READING 📚

On bloodsuckers: Are we headed for a recession? Only Nelini Stamp and the vampires know the answer. (World Builders Club)

On pointe: When a ballerina gets pregnant, it often means a huge loss of income. But now dancers are working to change an industry built on their bodies. (Elle)

On sportsmen: There are no openly gay or bisexual men competing in America’s professional sports leagues. Why not? (Uncloseted Media)