Bill to expand child tax credit to $2,000 fails in Senate

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, arrives for a news conference following weekly party policy luncheons at the Capitol on July 30, 2024, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 2, 2024 / 14:21 pm (CNA).

After passing the House in January, a bill to further expand child tax credits and certain tax breaks for businesses failed to pass the Senate this week.

The measure, which included portions addressing child tax credits, business taxes, and international trade, would increase the IRS child tax credit from the current amount of $1,600 to $2,000 per child in 2025.

The bill needed 60 votes to pass, but after opposition from Republicans the final vote on Thursday was 48 in favor and 44 opposed, with eight not voting.

During debate on the Senate floor on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained the GOP’s reasoning for opposing the bill. He claimed that the measure still needs “serious revisions” and that its current language amounts to “cash welfare instead of relief for working taxpayers.” 

McConnell accused Democrats of prematurely bringing the measure to a vote for political reasons.

Only three Republicans — Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, and Rick Scott of Florida — voted in favor of the bill. Meanwhile, independent Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bernie Sanders of Vermont opposed the measure.

The U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been a staunch advocate for the bill’s passage. Ahead of the Thursday vote the USCCB sent a message encouraging the faithful to urge senators to vote in favor of the measure.

The bishops said the bill was “urgently needed” and would lift “millions of American families out of poverty.” 

When it passed the House in January the bishops said it represented “meaningful progress” to “support the well-being of families struggling to meet their basic needs.”

Archbishop Borys Gudziak, head of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia and chair of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said in January that the bill was “exactly the sort of policy supporting women, children, and families that Congress should prioritize.”

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer voted no on the measure, which according to Senate rules leaves him the ability to bring it up for another vote in the near future.