Chairman Smith’s Efforts Praised
“Chairman Smith deserves great credit for bringing this bipartisan bill through committee with a strong vote of confidence, and for marking up related bills under regular order earlier in this Congress. This bottom-up process is a good example of how Congress is supposed to make law.”
Key Negotiations and Aims of the Bill
The bill is a result of negotiations between House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore. It aims to temporarily expand the child tax credit and revive tax deductions for small businesses, particularly for research and development conducted within the U.S.
Pushback from Conservative and Moderate Republicans
Despite its bipartisan nature, the bill has faced opposition from an unusual coalition of conservative and moderate Republicans, each for different reasons.
Conservative Pushback: Some GOP hardliners have claimed that the bill’s child tax credit would be available to illegal immigrants, a claim vehemently denied by Smith.
Moderate Frustrations: Moderates, particularly those from suburban areas outside major cities, have expressed frustration that the bill does not address state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps. They argue that this issue is critical for their swing district constituents and could impact House Republicans’ chances of holding onto their slim majority in November.
Both groups are also upset about the decision to put the tax bill up for a vote under suspension of the rules. This maneuver bypasses a committee vote and a procedural “rule” vote, but it also lifts the passage threshold from a simple majority to two-thirds. House GOP leaders made this decision after previous rule votes were used by Freedom Caucus members to protest Republican leadership’s decisions.
Expected Passage and Progressive Criticism
The bipartisan tax bill is expected to pass comfortably, despite the challenges it has faced. In addition to GOP criticism, the bill has also faced scrutiny from progressives who believe that the child tax credit provisions do not go far enough.
A group of four lawmakers threatened to derail a procedural vote for an unrelated GOP-led measure due to the exclusion of SALT deductions. However, sources have confirmed that they secured a commitment from Johnson to bring a separate, targeted SALT bill to the floor in the near future.
