Sanders, Manchin Join Forces With Senate Republicans To Block Child Tax Credit Bill

The Senate failed to pass the bipartisan tax bill that expands child tax credits on Thursday, despite it overwhelmingly passing the House earlier this year.

Independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined 42 Republicans to block the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act by a 48-44 vote. The $79 billion package, which needed 60 votes to advance in the Senate, passed the House in late January in a 357-70 vote.

Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, who is also former President Donald Trump’s running mate, is notably a no-show at the vote despite historically supporting pro-family initiatives and child tax credit expansion.

The bill aimed to “make improvements to the child tax credit, to provide tax incentives to promote economic growth,” and to “make improvements to the low-income housing tax credit,” among other tax related provisions, according to its text.

“Senate Republicans have been giving all these flowery speeches about how much they care about kids and families, and then when it comes to actually doing something, they’re AWOL,” Democratic Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon told The Washington Post.

The package, which was drawn up by Wyden and Republican House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith of Missouri, has faced opposition from Republicans.

“This is obviously an unserious effort,” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told The Washington Post. “It’s obviously just a show vote. And I think we can do much better next year.”

Three Republicans joined Democrats and voted in favor of the bill, including Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Rick Scott of Florida and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.

“It locks in a lot of Trump’s tax cuts. And it gets us ahead of what’s going to happen in 2025,” Mullin told The Washington Post. “It’s hard to explain why we’re not for it, other than the fact we think we can negotiate something better.”

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reiterated Cornyn’s belief that the vote was a bid to force Republicans to publicly take a stance on the child tax credit issue.

“When we vote, the American people will see for themselves who in fact favors expanding the Child Tax Credit and taking so many kids out of poverty, and who opposes it,” Schumer said in a press release.