Republicans finalized their sweeping tax package today, expanding the child tax credit to placate a reluctant senator as they pushed to muscle the bill through Congress next week and give President Donald Trump his first major legislative victory.
GOP lawmakers have been working to win the support of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a potential holdout, and they say they don’t see an obstacle for passage.
“I’m confident we’ll have the votes,” says 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.”
Rubio wrote on Twitter earlier today that he was dissatisfied with the size of a tax credit that low-income families can claim for their children. But members of a House-Senate conference committee signed the final version of the legislation, sending it to the House and Senate for final passage. They have been working to blend different versions passed by the House and Senate.
Two Republican members of the committee, Reps. Devin Nunes of California and Kristi Noem of South Dakota, say they believed Rubio’s concerns had been met, but Rubio’s office says he’s still reviewing the bill.
The tax package would double the basic per-child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000. The bill makes a smaller amount available to families even if they owe no income tax.
