Child Tax Credit Update as Chuck Schumer Backs Republicans Into Corner

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is forcing a vote in the upper chamber this week on a House bill that would see the child tax credit expanded, but it's unlikely the $79 billion package will be approved.

The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act received bipartisan support and was approved 357-70 in the House, but experts expect the bill to fail in the Senate.

Under the bill, the child tax credit would increase its $1,600 cap to better reflect inflation. There would also be additional tax breaks for businesses that originally were added by Republicans in 2017.

The vote will likely be held right before lawmakers take their yearly August recess. Even though the bill likely won't pass, the vote could reveal Republican priorities concerning the child tax credit.

"When we vote, the American people will see for themselves who in fact favors expanding the Child Tax Credit and taking so many kids out of poverty, and who opposes it," Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday.

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, said the election year would likely cause the support to fall more along party lines in the Senate, despite its boost for families and businesses.

"The bill looks to expand the current child tax credit while also reinstating some of the tax credits that were popular in earlier bills for businesses and families," Beene told Newsweek. "While this would ordinarily be a big bipartisan win, it's an election year, and we're seeing support fall more along party lines than the actual needs of taxpayers.

"While there is certainly always a valid reason for concern over rushed legislation," Beene said, "the result of this bill not advancing could be less dollars for taxpayers."

Schumer previously pushed for the bill as a way to support American families.

"The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act is good for kids, good for affordable housing, good for small businesses, and good for American families," the New York Democrat previously said in a statement. "This bipartisan bill passed the House overwhelmingly and we hope the Senate Republicans will join us."

While many House Republicans came on board, the Senate's conservative members remain leery. The bill was originally proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican.

Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas said he anticipates that Republicans will band together to keep the bill from getting passed, according to The Hill. Senate Republicans are against the bill largely because of how the law would change the work requirement for the child tax credit.

"We need a process that allows for some amendments to try to tweak and fix some of the issues," South Dakota Republican John Thune, the Senate minority whip, said when the bill passed in the House in February.

Wyden said: "The Republican senators have been talking a big game when it comes to helping kids and families. But when it comes to voting, they just haven't been there."

Senate Republicans hope to get better tax rulings next year when Congress will be forced to deal with Trump-era tax cuts set to expire.

"If we were lucky enough to run the tables and have the trifecta next year, obviously it's a much better bill," Thune told Punchbowl News. "And even if it's not, you can use the things they're asking for now as [a] trade."

Senator JD Vance, an Ohio Republican who is former President Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, said that Vice President Kamala Harris wants to end the child tax credit, but the Biden administration previously expanded it.

"I think a lot of parents and a lot of non-parents look at our public policy over the last four years and ask, 'How did we get to this place? How did we get to a place where Kamala Harris is calling for an end to the child tax credit?'" Vance said during a Fox News interview this month.

During Biden's time in office, the child tax credit temporarily increased to $3,000 per child 6 and over, and $3,600 per child under 6.

Before that, Harris co-sponsored the American Family Act of 2017 as a senator from California. That bill called to expand the credit, which she also promoted in 2019.