After closing the books on another tax season Monday, it's worthwhile to note the importance of tax policy in shaping the nation’s priorities. In particular, let’s take time to highlight the child tax credit, a measure that has lifted millions of kids out of poverty in the United States, including an estimated 187,000 in Louisiana.
In spite of that unqualified success, the expanded child tax credit, which went into effect July 2021 in response to the COVID pandemic, has triggered heated partisan debate in the U.S. Senate, where a bill that would keep most of its benefits remains stalled.
The House passed a bipartisan $78 billion tax package in January after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, maneuvered around recalcitrant members of his caucus to bring the measure to the floor. The final vote was 357-70, with the entire Louisiana delegation (except for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who was not present due to cancer treatment) voting in favor.
The bill temporarily extends the expanded credit to 2025 and gives low- and mid-income families up to $2,000 per child. It also does more to promote work, as the cap on low-income families steps up faster as earnings rise, and it adjusts the amount of the credit for inflation. In a nod to conservatives, it also scales back the credit from its pandemic-era highs.
Anti-abortion groups rallied around the bill, saying it would support struggling families, as did abortion rights supporters like the Center for American Progress.
The bill was a significant feather in Johnson’s cap even as he faces the threat of ouster and tries to navigate a treacherous path to pass a package of aid to Ukraine and Israel. It was also an example of a functional Congress, leaving in the dust the extreme left, which didn’t think the credit went far enough, and the extreme right, which labeled it “welfare.”
Yet, that progress is on the brink of unraveling as senators, who are supposed to be the grown-ups in the room, appear willing to let the moment slip away. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hasn’t said when he’ll bring the bill up for a vote, and Senate Republicans have groused publicly that it might make poor people less likely to work — while they may privately worry that it could give Joe Biden and Democrats a "win" in an election year.
We say that it’s past time for our nation's leaders to stop playing petty political games with a measure that can make a huge difference in the lives of so many American children. Low-income families use this money to buy food and other basics, helping them get a leg up.
We call on Louisiana Sens. John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy not to let this bill fall prey to partisan sniping. Instead, they should follow the common-sense lead of Speaker Johnson. Our state's parents are watching.