The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, the tax bill that includes a small but significant expansion to the child tax credit, continues to be stalled in the Senate after passing the House in a 357-72 vote, a major win in a Congress that has not been marked by bipartisan agreement and has struggled to move legislation.
At the Senate Finance Committee hearing, “American Made: Growing U.S. Manufacturing Through the Tax Code,“ on March 12, 2024, a number of Senators spoke about the legislative proposal. Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) used part of his opening remarks to highlight the need to move this package, which was authored by him and Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO). In his statement, he says, “The Senate needs to get this done. As I’ve said for weeks and weeks, I will talk to anybody who wants to work in good faith to move this forward quickly. Because 16 million low-income kids who stand to benefit shouldn’t be forced to wait. And I’ve heard from small business owners that there will be real damage done if the Senate sits on this until 2025. A lot of innovative small businesses will fail if this bill doesn’t pass.” He added that these policies won’t be on the table in 2025 if the bill doesn’t pass this year.
Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID), the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, told the witnesses that he wants to get something done, saying, “My hope is that the Republican Senate can have its voice. We will be able to deal with it and get something resolved quickly.” Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) used his time to explain his opposition, which was mainly to the offsets that pay for the bill.
As a reminder, the proposal is estimated to lift as many as 400,000 children above the poverty line in the first year of the three-year proposal, and an additional 3 million children would be made less poor. When the proposal is fully in effect in 2025, it would lift about half a million or more children above the poverty line and make about 5 million more children less poor.
CWLA released this statement of support for the legislation.