{"id":655310,"date":"2021-08-17T15:50:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T19:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=655310"},"modified":"2021-08-17T15:50:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T19:50:40","slug":"analysis-americans-support-monthly-child-tax-credits-why-dont-republicans-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/analysis-americans-support-monthly-child-tax-credits-why-dont-republicans-in-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"ANALYSIS: Americans Support Monthly Child Tax Credits. Why Don\u2019t Republicans In Congress?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fanalysis-americans-support-monthly-child-tax-credits-why-dont-republicans-in-congress%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=655310&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><ul>\n<li><strong>As tens of millions of American families across the country began to see the second round of monthly cash payments appear in their bank accounts Friday, Republicans in Congress remained oddly quiet.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The checks were the result of an expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which was part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that President Joe Biden signed into law in March. The credit itself is overwhelmingly popular among Republicans and Americans overall, creating a rift between reliable conservative voters and the GOP lawmakers who represent them.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cThe disconnect is enormous,\u201d said Samuel Hammond, the director of poverty and welfare policy at the centrist Niskanen Center, noting how Republicans in office and think tanks are \u201cfrom a different time\u201d than their voter bases.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Advocates for the Child Tax Credit have asserted that it is not only the best way to help families with kids, but to promote marriage and encourage American couples to start a family in the first place.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As tens of millions of American families across the country began to see the second round of monthly cash payments appear in their bank accounts Friday, Republicans in Congress remained oddly quiet.<\/p>\n<p>The checks were the result of an expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which was part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Joe Biden signed into law in March. While every Republican in Congress voted against the bill, the credit itself is overwhelmingly popular among registered Republicans and Americans overall, creating a rift between reliable conservative voters and the GOP lawmakers who represent them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe disconnect is enormous,\u201d Samuel Hammond, the director of poverty and welfare policy at the centrist Niskanen Center, told the Daily Caller News Foundation, noting how Republicans in office and think tanks are \u201cfrom a different time\u201d than their voter bases. \u201cI hear a lot from my conservative friends about how they\u2019re ecstatic about the expanded child benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That excitement has not spread to Republicans in Congress, even as CTC supporters argue it fits neatly within conservatism and experts say it could cut child poverty in half. The provision <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/14\/child-tax-credit-joe-biden-american-rescue-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">allots<\/a> $300 monthly payments for each child under 6 and $250 for each child under 18, meaning that a family with three kids under 6 could receive almost $11,000 annually, depending on its income. In previous years the credit was paid annually and maxed out at $200 per child, meaning the same family would have been limited to $6,000, and lower income families would have received a smaller check.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative support for the tax credit\u2019s expansion, and for direct cash relief more generally, stems from the idea that giving Americans money directly instead of relying on bureaucratic government arms is more efficient, more beneficial and far less intrusive. Instead of giving tailored aid through vast government programs that limit what families can spend it on, advocates say, giving cash allows for families to spend it on what they may need most at any given time, all while bypassing federal bureaucracy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of building this giant program \u2026 we can cut out the bureaucracy and cut out the red tape,\u201d Steve Anderson, a Republican activist from Illinois, told the DCNF in a phone interview. \u201cThe government\u2019s spending money anyway, and it\u2019s not spending it efficiently. If it\u2019s going to [spend], it might as well do it in a way that actually helps its citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7156577\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"32\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7156577\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7156577 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1306546882-1-scaled-1.jpg\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1306546882-1-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1306546882-1-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1306546882-1-620x413-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1306546882-1-768x512-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1306546882-1-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1306546882-1-2048x1365-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7156577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Joe Biden signs the American Rescue Plan into law. (Doug Mills-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>That idea has not resonated among the vast majority of Republican lawmakers. In December, GOP senators led by then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell repeatedly blocked $2,000 checks from being included in the supplemental stimulus package, calling them a \u201cuniversal cash giveaway\u201d and \u201csocialism for rich people,\u201d even as former President Donald Trump urged them to vote in favor of the checks. When Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who supported them, teamed up with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, to try and force a vote on $2,000 relief checks in December, they were <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/12\/18\/ron-johnson-blocks-bipartisan-attempt-provide-1200-checks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blocked twice<\/a> by Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who called it a \u201cshotgun approach\u201d and lamented what they would do to the debt.<\/p>\n<p>Days later, Democrats unexpectedly flipped both of Georgia\u2019s Senate seats, giving them a 50-50 majority with Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 tie-breaking vote. While multiple factors likely contributed to the dual upsets, Democrats\u2019 promise to pass $2,000 relief checks if they secured the majority certainly helped in the campaigns\u2019 final days.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans also objected to the expanded Child Tax Credit once it passed, criticizing how the aid wasn\u2019t specifically tied to the pandemic and asserting that it would be harmful to the country going forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe new CTC and other provisions in [the American Rescue Plan] fail to learn from lessons of the past, are not targeted to pandemic relief, and risk the loss of billions of taxpayer dollars in fraudulent and improper payments,\u201d Reps. Mike Kelly and Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/gop-waysandmeans.house.gov\/letter-biden-must-stop-wasting-americans-tax-dollars-in-fraud-improper-payments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">joint letter<\/a> to the Biden administration in April. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/03\/30\/republicans-embracing-economic-populism-cash-relief-minimum-wage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Is The GOP Turning Into A Party That Supports Cash Relief And A Higher Minimum Wage?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Others in the party simply believe that government spending beyond the bare necessities is is harmful to the country, even if it is going directly to families who stand to benefit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have no rainy day fund. We have no savings account,\u201d Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/randpaul\/status\/1341091581315715077?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a> last December as Congress debated the stimulus bill. \u201cCongress has spent all of the money. Congress spent all of the money a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Paul, who has voted against every spending, defense and coronavirus relief bill, is one of the most anti-spending lawmakers in the country, he articulated then what many Republicans have fallen back on now. \u201cThe monster spending bill presented today is not just a \u2018deficit\u2019s don\u2019t matter disaster,&#8217;\u201d he then said. \u201cIt is everything Republicans say they don\u2019t believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7262454\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"32\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7262454\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7262454\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1230255124-scaled-1.jpg\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1230255124-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1230255124-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1230255124-620x413-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1230255124-768x512-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1230255124-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1230255124-2048x1365-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7262454\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell exits the Senate Floor in December. (Cheriss May\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Families Are The Focus<\/h4>\n<p>Advocates for the Child Tax Credit have asserted that it is not only the best way to help families with kids, but to promote marriage and encourage American couples to start a family in the first place. And among Republicans in Congress, few have been as outspoken on the issue as Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.<\/p>\n<p>The moderate Republican and 2012 presidential nominee <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/02\/04\/mitt-romney-350-child-allowance\/\">unveiled the Family Security Act<\/a> in February, which mirrored many aspects of Biden\u2019s CTC but would raise monthly payments for children under six from $300 to $350. The stipend would phase out for married couples earning $400,000 annually and $200,000 for single parents, meaning that the overwhelming majority of American families would qualify.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.romney.senate.gov\/romney-offers-path-provide-greater-financial-security-american-families\">statement<\/a>, Romney said his plan would not only pull three million children out of poverty \u201cimmediately,\u201d but would do so without adding to the deficit.<\/p>\n<p>Hawley two months later <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/04\/26\/josh-hawley-missouri-united-states-senate\/\">unveiled his Parent Tax Credit<\/a>, which would have given parents working at least 20 hours a week with young children up to $6,000 annually. Married couples with both husband and wife working would have been eligible for double.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStarting a family and raising children should not be a privilege only reserved for the wealthy,\u201d Hawley said at the time. \u201cMillions of working people want to start a family and would like to care for their children at home, but current policies do not respect these preferences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both the Republicans\u2019 plans and Biden\u2019s Child Tax Credit, while different, all seek to remedy one underlying problem that faces the majority of Americans across the country: that having kids and raising a family has become harder and more expensive. The challenge facing families was reflected in recent census data, which showed that the last decade had the slowest growth of any in American history except for the 1930s, during the height of the Great Depression.<\/p>\n<p>There are few signs that the decline is expected to reverse this coming decade. Nearly 20% of millennials said that the coronavirus pandemic would delay them having kids in one <a href=\"https:\/\/morningconsult.com\/2020\/09\/28\/millennials-economy-children-poll\/\">Morning Consult poll<\/a> from September, while almost 60% said that it was too expensive to raise children in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not only the practical matter of food on the table, but the high stress levels in low-income households from having to constantly worry about paying [bills], that takes a toll,\u201d Galen Carey, the head of government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals, told the DCNF. He added how expanding the Child Tax Credit served as a way to recognize the benefits \u2014 economic and otherwise \u2014 that effective parenting brings to the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The credit] recognizes the critical work parents do in raising the next generation of leaders, of workers, of taxpayers, church members and more,\u201d he said. \u201cThe human race wouldn\u2019t be where we are at all if we didn\u2019t have parents.\u201d&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/14\/child-tax-credit-joe-biden-american-rescue-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Who\u2019s Eligible For The Child Tax Credit, And How Much Could They Get?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7260588\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"32\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7260588\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7260588 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234616674-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Sen. Mitt Romney exits the Senate Chamber Wednesday. (Liz Lynch\/Getty Images)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234616674-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234616674-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234616674-620x413-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234616674-768x512-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234616674-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234616674-2048x1365-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7260588\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Mitt Romney exits the Senate Chamber Wednesday. (Liz Lynch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Here To Stay?<\/h4>\n<p>While polling has shown the Child Tax Credit\u2019s expansion to be popular, with one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/press\/statement\/2021\/03\/10\/496969\/release-new-polling-shows-strong-bipartisan-support-federal-aid-people-need\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">survey<\/a> from March indicating that 65% of Americans \u2014 and over half of Republicans \u2014 supported at least some direct aid for families with young kids, the expansion adopted in March only runs through the end of 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats are attempting to make the expansion permanent in their proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/08\/10\/senate-passes-infrastructure-package-dozen-republicans-join-dems-kyrsten-sinema-rob-portman-joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$3.5 trillion budget<\/a>, but that plan still has many arduous obstacles to overcome before reaching Biden\u2019s desk. And despite the larger credit\u2019s overall popularity, a Morning Consult <a href=\"https:\/\/morningconsult.com\/2021\/07\/21\/child-tax-credit-payments-biden-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">poll<\/a> from July found that just 55% of Democrats and 16% of Republicans backed making it permanent.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the decrease in support, advocates are confident that the expansion enacted in March is the beginning of something more permanent, and not just the result of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do,\u201d Carey answered point blank when asked if he thought the expanded credit was here to stay. He argued not only that its wide application made it politically difficult for lawmakers to scrap in the future, but that support for it was only likely to increase as families felt the benefit of hundreds of additional dollars in their bank accounts each month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce a benefit has started it\u2019s hard to take it away,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially if it\u2019s proven to be very useful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As tens of millions of American families across the country began to see the second round of monthly cash payments appear in their bank accounts Friday, Republicans in Congress remained &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-655310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}