WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — Democrats and the Biden Administration are again trying to renew the expanded child tax credit.

New figures show that since it ended, child poverty has doubled.

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker (D) says Congress allowed child poverty to spike.

“This moral obscenity of the richest nation in the world having the highest poverty rates is not an accident.,” he said.

New data from the Census Bureau shows the U.S. child poverty rate more than doubled last year when the expanded child tax credit expired.

“We’ve got children in my district that are struggling to find where their next meal is coming from,” said Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.)

The program expired when Democratic Senator Joe Manchin joined Republicans in blocking an extension. Now, Democrats are renewing their push to restore it.

“This worked. It lifted half of our kids out of poverty, said Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn.). “I don’t know what more people need.”

Republican Congressman Dan Mueser says there are still options for tackling child poverty.

“As long as we put the money in the right spot, I would be for helping those families and children and lifting them up,” he said.

Opponents say entitlement programs like the expanded child tax credit are too costly and contribute too much to the ballooning national debt. But Booker argues the price tag of not acting is even greater.

“Costing us a trillion dollars to our economy, children who grow up below the poverty line have higher healthcare costs, have worse performance in schools, have lower productivity and often have higher rates of criminality,” he said.