; Whereas the Federal poverty thresholds underestimate poverty in the United States, and families with children with incomes well above Federal poverty thresholds continue to experience material hardship and the inability to afford basic needs; Whereas young children under the age of 3 have the highest rates of poverty, experiencing significant hardship while undergoing critical stages of brain development; Whereas the United States continues to have a significantly higher rate of child poverty compared to other wealthy nations because the Nation fails to sufficiently invest in children; Whereas children in immigrant families experience higher rates of poverty than children in nonimmigrant families because they face barriers to accessing antipoverty programs, and increasing both their eligibility and access to benefits would have a significant impact in reducing child poverty; Whereas children living in Puerto Rico and the other United States territories experience poverty at higher rates than children in the 50 States and District of Columbia because they lack equal access to Federal benefits as part of a long history of racism and discrimination against people living in the territories; Whereas poverty is linked to material hardship, resulting in children in poverty experiencing hunger and food insecurity, a lack of access to health care, unsafe and unstable shelter, and a lack of other basic needs which lead to children in poverty often having worse physical and mental health, educational, and other outcomes than their wealthier peers; Whereas children living in poverty and Black and Hispanic children experience higher rates of asthma and lead poisoning compared to their peers due to living in substandard housing and neighborhood conditions that are a product of an environmental legacy of structural racism