Pro-life leaders support bill that expands child tax credit

Leaders of anti-abortion organizations are backing a bipartisan bill to expand the child tax credit, according to a letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, introduced Jan. 17, is a bipartisan bill that would reform the way the child tax credit is calculated and expand the maximum amount per child to $1,800 a year, with annual increases based on inflation. After the House of Representatives past the bill on January 31, in the middle opposition of conservative Republicans, several leaders representing anti-abortion organizations sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsing the bill.

“Our advocacy extends beyond protecting life in the womb, however essential and ongoing that advocacy remains. Being pro-life includes advocating for a culture of life and providing families with the resources and the environment needed to support their children,” the signatories wrote in their February 22 letter. “We urge you to prioritize the rapid passage of this important package. and reject efforts to delay or dilute it substantially. After several years of pandemic, high inflation and rising costs of raising children, northern families -Americans need relief.”

Read the exclusive letter here:

Letter to Senators Schumer and… for Daily Caller News Foundation

The letter was signed by Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, John Mize, executive director of Americans United for Life, and Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League. It has also been signed by Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, as well as Carlos Duran, president of the National Hispanic Pastors Alliance.

The House passed the bill with 357 yes to 70 no. Most of the opposition came from Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus, who argued that the bill's fiscal impact would be too great for the country to bear and opposed provisions that would allow certain parents, who may themselves be illegally present foreign nationals, claim the credit.

“We are not at all happy with the rather costly expansion of the child tax credit, which … by the way … would not rule out the tax credits going essentially to the children of illegal aliens.” said Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, policy chair of the Freedom Caucus, on Jan. 25. to study from the Congressional Budget Office indicates the bill would increase the deficit by more than $117 billion in 2024 and $44 billion over the next four years.

Some pro-life groups, meanwhile, have opposed the extension of the credit.

“The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act is, first and foremost, a repudiation of the principles of successful family welfare reform.” he wrote the Heritage Foundation in a report on the bill, adding that “[t]The cash welfare benefits in the bill are socially harmful and an obvious step toward President Biden's jobless “child support.” While not delivering significant economic growth, this bill further undermines marriage and healthy family formation.”

The bill was brokered by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith. Aside from the child tax credit provisions, the bill would authorize a new bilateral tax agreement with Taiwan and impose new penalties for tax fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Families are struggling under Joe Biden and the economy isn't going to turn around anytime soon. Here we have an opportunity to get tax relief to the people who need it most. This is a short-term extension. There's no need to drag- do it because of weird policy disagreements. Do it, give families and businesses the certainty they need, and we'll come back and revisit all of this in a year or two,” said John Schweppe, policy director at the American Principles Project and signatory of the letter. the DCNF.

The Senate has not yet scheduled a vote on whether to pass the bill, though supporters have sought to quickly pass it to allow the credit to apply for the upcoming tax filing season that ends Dec. 15. 'April.

The offices of Schumer, McConnell, Wyden and Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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