Top GOP senator hesitant to pass tax bill because it 'makes the president looks good'

31 January 2024

The US Senate is close to a floor vote on a bipartisan, $78 billion package dubbed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act that would provide numerous benefits to low-income Americans and families with children. However, Republicans are reportedly wary of doing anything that could help President Joe Biden win reelection in November.

In an interview with Semafor reporter Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who is the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, openly weighed the potential political costs associated with passing legislation that would help American families under President Joe Biden's watch.

"I think passing a tax bill that makes the president look good mailing out checks before the election, means he could be reelected and then we won’t extend the 2017 tax cuts," Grassley said.

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Included in the bill's language is an expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) along with other tax credits for businesses. One concern among Republicans is that CTC checks could potentially be sent to families ahead of the 2024 election, which would likely boost Biden's approval ahead of Americans heading to the polls. However, Semafor reported that this was an unfounded rumor.

The tax bill snafu is just the latest example of Republicans being hesitant to pass helpful legislation in an election year. Former President Donald Trump has reportedly been lobbying Republican members of Congress to oppose a bipartisan agreement on border security in order to deny Biden the ability of securing the border under his watch. Even though the US Senate is close to finalizing a bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has already promised to not even hold a vote on any border legislation.

The hyper-partisan environment in the US Capitol has led to the current meeting of Congress to be deemed the least productive in modern history. At the end of 2023, NPR reported that only 27 bills had become law in the 118th Congress, with the body paralyzed for much of the year by infighting among the Republican majority. NPR noted that in 2013, when the House was similarly controlled by Republicans while Democrats held the US Senate, Congress passed 72 bills that became law.

Democrats have sought to expand the CTC for years, but had their hands tied by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), whose opposition helped Republicans kill their efforts in the evenly-divided chamber. According to Mountain State Spotlight, Manchin's obstinance resulted in West Virginia's child poverty rate skyrocketing from 20.7% to 25% in just one year. Manchin is not seeking another term in 2024.

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