@alextdaugherty
Sen. Marco Rubio has been pushing an expanded child tax credit for weeks, but an effort to make the credit fully refundable by slightly raising a proposed cut on corporate taxes failed late Friday night on the Senate floor.
Rubio and Utah Sen. Mike Lee's amendment to raise corporate taxes by .94 percent to 20.94 percent went down on a 29-71 vote on Friday after Democrats decided not to support an amendment that would have made the bill slightly more palatable to them.
Rubio and Lee could have held up the tax bill by insisting on the amendment's passage in exchange for their support, but chose not to. Both senators are expected to vote in favor of the final bill. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker has said he will vote against the bill because it does not do enough to help the deficit, but every other Republican Senator has indicated that they will likely support the bill. Three Republican no votes combined with united Democratic opposition would stop the bill.
"Today, the Senate missed an opportunity to help working families by strengthening the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit," said First Five Years Fund executive director Kris Perry. "Millions of American households rely on this credit each year, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers worked hard to extend it to more low-income families who would benefit most from receiving it."
The Senate is expected to vote on their tax bill Saturday, just hours after the text of the bill was revealed. The House and Senate will then attempt to work out their differences in conference before sending a final bill to President Donald Trump's desk, if it passes Congress.
With the Rubio-Lee amendment we saw that Democrats have decided it is more strategic for them not to have their fingerprints on this tax bill. It was an amendment that expanded the child tax credit at the expense of corporations. Democrats still said no.
— Tara Golshan (@taragolshan) December 2, 2017
Comments