Vice President Biden: “What is at stake is the middle class, and access to it.”

Voices yesterday met with Obama administration officials to discuss some of the policies in the president’s State of the Union Address (see our take on the SOTU here). Following up on the president’s promise to make corporations and the very wealthiest contribute more in taxes, Obama advisers promised, “We are going to reform the tax code.”

Obama officials outlined deductions and the preferential treatment of investment income as possible targets as they work to make the tax code more progressive. A senior Obama official said “it would be senseless’” not to extend long-term unemployment benefits that are due to expire next month. Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech reaffirming the administration’s commitment to addressing income equality, saying, “What is at stake is the middle class, and access to it.” We live-tweeted the event; follow us on Twitter to get updates, and check out all the photos we took on Facebook.

Rich Huddleston, executive director of Voices member Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, wanted the administration to explain, “Why wasn’t there greater mention of early childhood education and other issues related to young child development in the SOTU?” Early education programs are often ignored in this political climate of cuts, even though when the benefits are proven. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to press the administration on early education, but Obama officials stood by the president’s surprise proposal that students under 18 must remain in school — essentially making it so students can’t drop out in America.

Voices to meet Vice President Biden, senior officials in post-SOTU meeting this afternoon

President Obama last night outlined many new proposals for keeping the American recovery on track (see our take), and they are sure to be reflected in the budget proposal he’ll release February 13. Although the federal budget process is famously byzantine, confusing and contentious, at Voices we think of the nation’s budget as its list of priorities. Will children be a priority?

That’s what we’ll find out today, as Voices meets with Vice President Biden and senior administration officials to discuss proposals outlined in last night’s State of the Union address and their place in the forthcoming budget. We plan to ask how the administration will proceed with the implementation of health reform and the expansion of Medicaid; whether the administration plans to bolster juvenile justice and child welfare programs; and whether kids’ programs will be protected from cuts. What would you like us to ask the Obama administration? Tell us on Facebook. And follow us on Twitter to get updates from the meeting.

More than one million will benefit from expanded tax credit in Illinois

Illinois will raise the state’s earned-income tax credit for around one million workers, thanks to legislation signed last week. The result is that struggling families will keep around $100 more of what they earn in year.

The law in Illinois supplements the federal Earned-Income Tax Credit, a tax break for working families that in 2009 kept about 3 million children out of poverty.

Kelley Talbot, policy director at our member organization Voices for Illinois Children, is quoted saying, “It’s good news for working families. This is really a victory for parents. Parents will be able to stretch their income a little bit further.”