Republicans boost child tax credit to lock down Senate support for tax overhaul bill

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House and Senate Democrats protested the tax legislation that is now under consideration in conference, first urging delay until newly-elected Alabama Democratic Senator Doug Jones is seated and then blasting the bill as gift to the wealthy. (Dec. 13)
AP

WASHINGTON — A sweeping overhaul of the tax code inched closer to passage on Friday as GOP negotiators in the House and Senate signed off on a final agreement that sweetened a key tax credit to appeal to a pair of wavering GOP senators.

But even as Republicans touted the final deal, the path forward remained perilous — with a handful Republican votes in limbo, an extremely tight deadline, and restrictive procedural hurdles. Any of those could gum up the works, and all of them set the stage for possible chaos next week when GOP leaders plan to push for final passage in the House and Senate.

Supporters of the bill remained confident of passage. But there are at least five wildcards in the GOP deck: along with several senators who remain undecided on the bill, two have missed votes this week because of medical issues.

Republicans hold a narrow 52-48 majority in the Senate, so they can only lose two GOP votes and still pass a bill with Vice President Mike Pence serving as a tiebreaker. All the Senate’s Democrats are expected to oppose the measure.

The tax bill passed its final procedural hurdle Friday just after noon when the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, said Republicans had signed the report of a House-Senate conference committee and would release the text Friday night.

“I’m confident at the end of the day the Senate will approve this conference committee report because no one should be defending the status quo, the horrible tax code Americans have had to live with for too long,” Brady said.

Friday’s final deal included a last-minute provision added to win over two GOP hold-outs: Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah. Those two lawmakers sought a boost in the child tax credit, so GOP negotiators agreed to plump it up for low-income families.

The current tax code provides a credit of up to $1,000 per child to parents, but that break phases out for those with incomes above $110,000.

Under the agreement reached on Friday, the credit would increase to $2,000 per child, and the income cutoff would go to $500,000. In addition, $1,400 of the credit would be refundable, meaning that parents could get that amount from the government even if their wages were so low they did not owe income tax. 

That’s $300 more than GOP negotiators agreed to earlier this week — a change made after Rubio and Lee threatened to torpedo the measure without a more generous credit.

The change was enough to get Rubio’s support. He said on Twitter that making 70% of the total credit refundable “is a solid step toward broader reforms which are both pro-growth and pro-worker. But there is still much more to do in the months and years to come.”

For far too long, Washington has ignored and left behind the American working class. Increasing the refundability of the Child Tax Credit from 55% to 70% is a solid step toward broader reforms which are both Pro-Growth and Pro-Worker.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 15, 2017

He thanked Lee, as well as Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser who also advocated for the credit.

Lee, who said he was undecided after Rubio said he would vote against the package, was still waiting to see the bill text early Friday afternoon, his office said.

Asked about Rubio and Lee as he left the White House for a speech Friday, President Trump was confident.

“They want to see it done,” Trump said. “I know how they feel. These are great people and they want to see it done, and they want to see it done properly.”

Three other Republican senators also remained undecided: Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, and Bob Corker of Tennessee — with each weighing different concerns.

Adding to the uncertainty: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is undergoing treatment for brain cancer and was hospitalized this week at Walter Reed Medical Center. And Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., had outpatient surgery on Monday to remove a lesion on his nose, said his spokesman Chris Gallegos, and “the procedure was more extensive than expected.”

Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican who helped negotiate the final deal, said he was confident Republicans would have the votes for Senate passage. He said he expected both McCain and Cochran to be in Washington next week despite their medical problems.

Asked if Republicans could pass the bill without McCain’s vote, Portman said: “I don’t want to go there, because I think John McCain will be here.”

“He’s having a tough time, but I’m told that he will be here next week and voting,” Portman said. “More importantly we all wish him the best of health.”

Contributing: Eliza Collins and Ledyard King 

Read more:

Changes coming in the tax bill to be released Friday, and some of the reasons for them

Why is President Trump still talking about a tax bill instead of signing one?

Trump says Republicans are just ‘days away’ from tax cut bill – maybe

 

 

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