Date: 2014-07-25
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak about H.R. 4935. The Child Tax Credit Improvement Act of 2014. The Child Tax Credit Improvement Act indexes the credit and the limitations to inflation to help parents keep more of their hard earned money to use for the mounting expenses of parenting. Under the bill. the amount of the child tax credit would be indexed for inflation and the marriage penalty would be eliminated by increasing the joint filing phaseout threshold to exactly double that of single filers. A product of the 1997 Tax Act. the Child Tax Credit complements the Earned Income Tax Credit and helps to further buttress the case that the road to prosperity winds through the tax code by reducing poverty. encouraging work. and strengthening families with children. The changes proposed earlier this year by both President Obama and Chairman CAMP highlight some of the challenges that these programs face including the complexity surrounding combining work and child tax incentives. definitions of qualifying children. and some of the deficiencies these tax benefits have with respect to childless workers. But the version of the bill reported by the Ways & Means increases the deficit by $114.9 billion. In addition. a provision was added in the Rules Committee requiring taxpayers to have a Social Security Number to claim the refundable portion of the child tax credit. reducing the value of the underlying bill by $24.5 billion. As a result. the final version of the bill increases the deficit by $90.4 billion. I want to continue to work on tax legislation which benefits the 18th District and enhances the Child Tax Credit. so that the working families across this great nation you have advocated for may lift themselves out of poverty. and seek the American Dream but this version is not an improvement but instead is a step back. In fact Mr. Speaker. while I proudly serve on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. in April. I hosted a briefing on the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. which demonstrates the importance of this provision in helping to fight poverty and allowing many Americans in Texas and elsewhere to have a better shot at the American Dream. This briefing was led by two experts. Elaine Maag from the Urban Institute and Margot CrandallHollick of the Congressional Research Service which was organized. along with two other briefings on International Taxation and Retirement Tax provisions. by my Economic Policy Counsel. Darrell Rico Doss. And in spite of the fact that it took place during recess and we did not serve foodmy staff assures me that we had an excellent turnout and an even better briefing because of Elaine and Margot who addressed a spellbound audience of Hill staff and others on the intricacies of the two tax credits. Why? Because the Child Tax Credit was significantly expanded by the Bush tax cuts. and further expanded. especially for lowincome taxpayers. by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Many. though not all of these expansions were subsequently made permanent by the American Taxpayer Relief Act. That expansion of the credit occurred under two presidentsillustrating its bipartisan nature. But only in this Congressled by an intransigent GOP Majority would this critical povertybusting tax provision be politicized to the point that I suspect the vote will largely be along party lines. Today. as the House considers this GOP child tax credit bill which does the opposite of what is needed: it would provide permanent tax cuts to many affluent families. while letting the Child Tax Credit disappear for many lowincome working families after 2017. After 2017. H.R. 4935 would effectively eliminate the Child Tax Credit for 5 million families. while cutting it for 6 million more. A single parent with two children working fulltime at minimum wage would lose her entire tax credit of $1.725. Meanwhile. a couple with two children with income of $150.000 would receive a Child Tax Credit $2.200 larger than today. In addition. H.R. 4935 would immediately eliminate the Child Tax Credit for millions of American children whose parents immigrated to this country. including U.S. citizen children and "Dreamers." and would push many of these children into or deeper into poverty. Here are the three key features of this GOP child tax credit bill (more information about each of these features is below): It fails to make permanent a key improvement in the Child Tax Credit enacted in 2009 that makes more lowincome working families eligible for the credit and that will expire in 2017 unless Congress acts. It indexes the current maximum credit of $1.000 per child to inflation. which benefits only those with incomes high enough to receive the maximum benefit. It extends the Child Tax Credit up the income scaleon a permanent basisso more families with sixfigure incomes will benefit. So. today after Rep. PAUL RYAN unveiled his socalled "antipoverty" plan. my Republican colleagues bring up this bill that is estimated to result in pushing 12 million peopleincluding 6 million childreninto or deeper into poverty. by failing to extend the key 2009 Child Tax Credit improvement which will expire in First. this bill hurts lowincome working families by failing to make permanent the key provision enacted in 2009 that made more lowand moderateincome working families eligible for the CTC and enlarged the CTC for others who had been receiving only a partial credit. This provision expires in 2017. If this provision expires on schedule. as this GOP bill allows: A single mother with two children in Houston who works full time throughout the year at the minimum wage and earns $14.500 would lose $1.725 in 2018. as her Child Tax Credit would be eliminated. Mr. Speaker. about 12 million people including 6 million children in 2018 will be pushed into. or deeper into. poverty. Again. it is hypocritical of House Republicanswho have let emergency unemployment insurance expire for more than 3 million Americans. refused to provide a permanent fix to the sustainable growth rate (SGR) for Medicare payments to doctors. and failed to replace the irrational. acrosstheboard spending cuts imposed by the sequester all on arguments over offsetsto bring this bill to the Floor without paying for it. As I cast my vote this morning the fact is not lost on meand I am sure many other Members in this bodythat four months ago the Republican Leadership let emergency unemployment insurance expire for more than 1.3 million Americansmany at the end of their proverbial economic rope. Many of these unemployed live in the 18th Congressional District of Texas. comprising Houston and outlying areas. Mr. Speaker. this is more than irresponsible but recklessness in the guise of looking out for families. I have to ask a burning questionwhat happened to deficit reduction? However. the choice made by House Republicans to address these provisions one by one. while adding their cost to the deficit. represents an irresponsible approach that will only make fixing our broken tax system harder and put further fiscal strain on federal. state. and local programs. Mr. Speaker. I am prepared to vote for children and familiesbut this bill must be paid forbecause if they are notfuture generations will suffer because of the unsustainable debt. Let us get back to being fiscally responsible and helping Americas families by enacting smart. pragmatic tax policy.