The Senate failed to pass a bill to expand tax credits for families with children in a 48-44 vote, largely along party lines, days before the chamber takes its August break.
The package, which would expand tax credits afforded to families with children and grant some business tax cuts, passed in a staggering 357 – 70 bipartisan vote in the House earlier this year.
“The question is, will Senate Republicans join us to give Americans a tax break or will they stand in the way?” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote, per ABC News.
Across the aisle, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted the plan, which the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found would lift up to 400,000 kids out of poverty in its first year, as “cash welfare instead of relief for working taxpayers.”
Still, three members of his caucus, Republican Sens. Rick Scott, Josh Hawley and Markwayne Mullin, broke to vote for the proposal, while Democratic-aligned Sens. Sanders and Manchin voted the proposal down.
Not present was Ohio Senator JD Vance, who Majority Leader Schumer referenced on the Senate floor. The vote, which was previously held back due to the bill’s unlikelihood of passing, was seen as an opportunity for Democrats to highlight the GOP’s unwillingness to support the plan to uplift families.
Vance, who last week falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris “is calling for an end to the child tax credit,” couldn’t be bothered to make the vote to expand the tax credit after headlining a lie-filled Arizona rally yesterday
The Republican Party’s position against expanding financial incentives for families may come as a shock, especially given the numerous comments Vice Presidential candidate Vance has made blasting Americans without children, including his claims that “childless cat lady” Democrats were “anti-child.”