After claiming Democrats are “anti-family” and weirdly railing against “childless cat ladies,” Ohio Sen. JD Vance is likely to be a no-show this week for a vote to expand the child tax credit. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer scheduled a vote on the bipartisan Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, and Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee might not be able to make it back to the Capitol for the vote on Thursday.
Vance has a campaign stop scheduled at the Southern border in Cochise County, Arizona, Thursday morning and is unlikely to change plans, according to Roll Call. Instead of voting to help American families, Vance will likely be demonizing migrant families trying to come to the United States in search of a better life. That’s really something coming from a guy who claims Republicans are the “pro-family” party.
During a Fox News interview on Monday, while responding to growing outrage over his previous statements deriding “childless cat ladies,” Vance falsely claimed Vice President Kamala Harris was “calling for an end to the child tax credit.”
In reality, Harris has actively supported expanding the child tax credit, which reduces the amount of federal taxes owed by qualifying families, for many years now.
In 2018, the then-senator from California co-sponsored legislation that would have increased the credit had there been a Democratic Senate majority at the time. In 2023, Vice President Harris teamed up with fellow Democrats to craft a budget that would continue the temporary expansion of the American Rescue Plan’s child tax credit. That effort was torpedoed by many of the same Senate Republicans making excuses today.
“The expanded Child Tax Credit cut the child poverty rate nearly in half during the first year of our Administration,” Harris tweeted in March 2023. “Our budget restores this tax credit permanently because we believe it is our duty to invest in our nation’s children.”
During remarks on the Senate floor Monday, Schumer said, “I urge my Republican colleagues not to stand in the way of helping parents and small businesses and families keep a roof over their heads when it’s time to vote on Thursday.”
“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.” Schumer said in a statement. “This bipartisan bill passed the House overwhelmingly and we hope the Senate Republicans will join us.”
H.R. 7024, a bipartisan effort negotiated between Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, passed the House earlier this year with 169 Republican votes and 188 Democratic votes.
The Wyden-Smith bill, as passed by the House, would adjust how the additional child tax credit is calculated for 2023-2025 by multiplying the credit by the number of qualifying children. It sets a maximum refundable amount per child of $1,800 in 2023, $1,900 in 2024, and $2,000 in 2025. It also provides for an inflation adjustment of the credit beginning in 2024.
The bill hopes to raise the cap on the child tax credit for most of the roughly 19 million children who currently get a partial tax credit or none at all because their families have multiple kids. The bill also expands the low-income housing tax credit that Wyden says will “add more than 200,000 affordable housing units nationwide.”
The Census Bureau estimated that the Democrat-driven 2021 expanded child tax credit lifted nearly 3 million children above the poverty line.
As for Vance? In response to the vice presidential candidate’s “cat ladies” comment, Wyden told Roll Call that the upcoming vote will be illuminating.
“There’s a lot of weird, bizarre stuff going around,” Wyden said. “Everybody’s gonna find out on Thursday who’s a supporter, particularly of large families.”
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