Senate Fails to Advance Major Tax Bill That Would Expand Child Tax Credit

CBS News

A major tax package that would bolster the popular Child Tax Credit and cut taxes for businesses failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday in the face of widespread Republican opposition, despite clearing the House by wide bipartisan margins earlier this year.

Known as the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, the legislation would expand the Child Tax Credit to provide relief to lower-income families. Though it’s more modest than a pandemic-era enhancement of the credit, which greatly reduced child poverty and ended in 2021, it could still lift roughly half a million children out of poverty, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The bill also included some revived tax cuts for businesses, like research and development deductions.

The legislation fell short in a vote of 48 in favor to 44 opposed, with 60 votes needed to advance the measure. Three Republicans — Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and Rick Scott of Florida — joined with Democrats in favor of moving forward with the bill. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, independents who caucus with Democrats, were also opposed.