Durbin Statement Regarding Child Tax Credit

[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today made the following statement in response to House action on the Child Tax Credit:

"The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives hit an all-time low today by denying the men and women of the armed services the benefits of the child tax credit.

The House bill dropped the Senate provision that counts combat zone pay as earned income for purposes of the child credit. The result is that because their combat pay is tax-free, a soldier may not have sufficient taxable income to make it into the bottom of the $10,000 to $26,000 tax bracket and would be ineligible to receive a child tax credit.

Last month, I worked with my Senate colleagues on a bipartisan basis to boost combat pay and that effort was overwhelmingly approved by both the Senate and the House. That was a significant step forward in fairly compensating the men and women in uniform for their service. It is an outrage that military personnel serving in combat zones would not benefit from the child credit proposal."