WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are getting close to being buried bipartisan bill expand child tax credit and provide breaks for businesses by making a number of demands that will likely disrupt the coalition that allowed them to pass the House.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo. and a $78 billion bill negotiated by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore. It passed the Republican-led House By a vote of 357-70 in January, a rare feat in a divided Congress struggling to function. But it faltered in the Senate, where key Republicans said they would kill him if he didn’t include key amendments. Senate Democrats hold 51 seats and need 60 votes to eliminate one.
But with tax-filing season winding down and election-year politics heating up, there’s no sign of a resolution in sight. Democratic leaders are eager to pass the law an analysis, will benefit approximately 16 million children from low-income families. Some Republicans are openly warning that they will screw it up.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Finance Committee, said he would be happy to see the entire tax bill scrapped.
“I hope so,” Tillis said, adding that the Senate today lacks the necessary 60 votes to pass.
“I honestly think that unless Sen. Crapo says they’re negotiating in good faith, I don’t see how they have any,” he said, referring to Mike Crapo of Idaho, the top Republican on the Finance Committee. “If it’s just a floor vote, I don’t think they have a way.”
The bill would expand child tax credits and raise the refundable $1,600 cap and adjust it for inflation, with the biggest benefit going to low-income large families. The bill also includes some business tax breaks, including research and development and small business spending, key to gaining GOP support in the House.
Many GOP senators are deferring to Crapo on the way forward, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Crapo told NBC News on Tuesday that he still has issues with “a number” of the provisions. He argued that the current language weakens the work requirement, saying he wants to eliminate the “look-back” policy that allows a taxpayer to use a previous year’s income if they claim a larger child tax credit. He called for spending cuts to fund the expansion of the child tax credit, saying the bill would “create legal costs that would create significantly higher deficits.”
“These are just the beginning,” Crapo said, adding that businesses like the tax breaks. But about individual tax provisions: “There are many issues. And at least I can’t make any predictions until I get in touch about the issues.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Finance Committee, said he agreed with Crapo on limiting the parameters of child loans.
When asked if the account was dead, he said it was not his statement. “You can’t say that unless you say Crapo,” Grassley said. “Crapo is the man to say it.”
The requirements are a tall order. Crapo expressed his displeasure with the changes to the employee retention tax credit offset; to give up this idea, you have to start from scratch.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the ranking member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, warned that major changes in the Senate would split the coalition in the House. He said there’s “no question” Senate Republicans are trying to sink the bill to deny President Joe Biden an election-year achievement.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., proposed the addition Law on Compensation for Radiation Exposure A tax bill aimed at benefiting uranium mine victims and the Manhattan Project, which developed atomic bombs during World War II, could draw GOP votes, he said.
“This tax bill seems to me to be in very serious trouble,” he said. “It’s about life support. So I think if they put those things together it could unlock support. I know he will get my vote.”
But Crapo quickly overturned that idea.
“When we fix the provisions in the bill, I will support it,” he said. Adding the radiation compensation act “doesn’t fix the basic bill.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Finance Committee, said he wanted the bill passed “months ago” but has not given up and expressed frustration with the negotiations with Republicans.
In an interview, Wyden said he offered to give the GOP the highest demand but didn’t move the needle properly.
“If I had my way, it would have been months ago. And the reality is that this was not something that Senate Republicans wanted to do,” Wyden said. “In the most recent exchange, I gave them the main request of individual Republican senators, which was to get rid of hindsight. They gave me something that would not have won a single Democrat vote in the Senate. not one. So there you are. We continue to try to find a common language.”
Wyden urged his Senate colleagues to get behind it, citing the package’s popular benefits for families, businesses and taxpayers with anti-fraud measures.
“You’re going to let all this fraud go on and do nothing?” Wyden said. “Will you say no to 16 million young people? You will say no to small business owners and you will say yes [Donald Trump] a presidential campaign based on being more sympathetic to the tax needs of billionaires?
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was noncommittal Tuesday when asked if he would bring the bill up for a vote.
“Look, I’m all for the package. If there’s enough votes to move it forward properly, yes, we’re going to try to put it on the floor,” Schumer told reporters at a weekly news conference. “But now we don’t think – they are trying to get enough votes. “The sponsors are trying to see if there are enough votes.”