Rubio, Lee votes could scuttle tax bill
Child tax credit looks to be a sticking point
WASHINGTON – As a Republican plan to overhaul taxes hung by a onevote thread, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Thursday he would oppose the bill next week unless the child tax credit was expanded to help working-class families who don’t owe income taxes.
Other Republican senators were undecided, including Mike Lee of Utah, who co-sponsored the child tax credit proposal with Rubio. Vice President Pence changed his plans for a Middle East trip next week, so he could be in Washington if needed to cast a tiebreaking vote.
Republican leaders in the House and Senate said Wednesday they had an agreement in principle on how to merge competing bills that both chambers passed in recent weeks. A House-Senate conference committee is likely to release a bill Friday afternoon, and votes are likely Monday and Tuesday.
When the Senate approved the bill Dec. 2, the vote was 51-49, meaning Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could afford to lose only one vote and still pass it if Pence broke a 50-50 tie.
Lee and Rubio voted for the earlier bill, even after the Senate rejected an amendment they had offered that would have increased the child credit and allowed recipients to get the full amount even if they did not owe income taxes. They proposed to offset the cost by increasing the top corporate tax rate from 20% to slightly less than 21%.
The agreement reached this week between Republican leaders of the two houses and President Trump’s administration did include a 21% corporate rate, but the funds were partially used to lower the top individual tax rate to 37%, from 38.5% — without expanding the child credit from the earlier Senate bill.
Rubio reacted bitterly to that news, questioning on Twitter why it was considered “anti-growth” to raise the rate to pay for a tax cut for “a working family making $40k” but not for couples making $1 million.
Details of the bill were still being written, and it’s possible Lee and Rubio could be accommodated. Trump’s daughter and aide, Ivanka, has pushed for the expanded credit and met with Senate leaders Wednesday.
Lee’s spokesman Conn Carroll said the senator “is undecided on the bill in its current form. (He) continues to work to make the (tax credit) as beneficial as possible to American working families.”
Trump did not seem concerned about losing Rubio’s vote.
“I think he’ll get there. He’s really been a great guy, very supportive,” Trump said. “I think that Sen. Rubio will be there, very shortly.”
The credit is $1,000 per child, and it begins to shrink as a couple’s income exceeds $120,000. The Senate bill would increase it to $2,000 and increase the income phaseout to $500,000. The first $1,100 would be refundable, meaning a taxpayer could receive a check for that amount even if they did not owe income tax.
Rubio has said the full amount should be refundable.
“Rubio has consistently communicated to the Senate tax negotiators that his vote on final passage would depend on whether the refundability of the Child Tax Credit was increased in a meaningful way,” spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said.
Rubio and Lee were not the only Republican senators wavering. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona were undecided.