With Rubio on board, GOP leaders finalize huge tax package
WASHINGTON Republicans finalized the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s tax laws in three decades Friday, sweetening the child tax credit to placate a reluctant GOP senator as they pushed to muscle the bill through Congress next week and give President Donald Trump his first major legislative victory.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida had been holding out for a bigger child tax credit for lowincome families. After he got it, Rubio tweeted that the change is “a solid step toward broader reforms which are both Pro- Growth and Pro-Worker.”
Rubio spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said that meant he’d vote yes. Rubio’s support provided a big boost for Senate Republicans who are trying to hold together a razorthin majority to pass the bill.
“I’m confident we’ll have the votes,” said Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, one of the Republican negotiators on the bill.
Portman cast the bill as providing “the kind of middle-class tax relief that’s desperately needed right now. People are looking at flat wages and higher expenses, and this will help.”
Members of a House- Senate conference committee signed the final version of the legislation Friday, sending it to the House and Senate for final passage.
They have been working to blend different versions passed by the two houses.
The tax package would double the basic per-child tax credit from US$1,000 to US$2,000. The bill makes a smaller amount available to families even if they owe no income tax. Rep. Kristi Noem of South Dakota said Friday that amount had been increased to US$1,400. Rubio had said he wanted the earlier US$1,100 figure increased.
Low-income taxpayers would receive the money in the form of a tax refund. Senate Republicans passed their original tax bill by a vote of 51-49 — with Rubio’s support. If they lost Rubio, they would have been one more defection away from defeat.
Rubio’s support came after a key faction of House Republicans came out in favour of the bill, increasing its chances. Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus predicted most of their members would support the package.
House and Senate Republican leaders on Wednesday forged an agreement in principle on the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s tax laws in more than 30 years. The package would give generous tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest Americans — Trump among them — and more modest tax cuts to low- and middleincome families.