Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in actual opposition to the bill.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation, and I do so reluctantly, because I know of the significant amount of work by my friend from Missouri; by those, frankly, on both sides of the aisle to reach agreement; and my friends on Ways and Means.
There are important provisions in this legislation that are critical for job growth, for economic growth, and critical for the well-being of our country. There are numerous businesses I know in Texas and around this country that understand the importance of the expensing provisions, the interest provisions, and research and development.
However, unfortunately, as happens in this town, this legislation comes with provisions that the people I represent are tired of. They are provisions that would continue to expand the welfare state--as The Wall Street Journal editorialized about--by expanding the child tax credit in ways that will continue to fund people directly through refundable credits, which we find to be problematic, and we think undermines the kind of economic activity and incentive to work and incentive to produce value that we think is critically important for economic growth.
Importantly, that provision is also available to parents who are here in this country illegally with children born in the United States. We think that is a problem. We think that is not just allowing, essentially, birthright citizenship anchor babies, but funding it. That is a problem.
Now, my colleagues on this side of the aisle will rejoin that that was a product of the 2017 bill that was pushed by and passed by Republicans, including President Trump, to which I say: Right. So what? It is still wrong. It is still bad policy. We shouldn't do it, and we should not be perpetuating it now.
All through the eleventh hour last night, I worked hard trying to find a way to come up with a provision that might be palatable on both sides of the aisle, this side of the aisle, to find a way to say: Let's get that provision pulled off so we can move the pieces that will be good for economic growth and prosperity that I think has bipartisan support and clear support on this side of the aisle.
Unfortunately, we have not done that.
I am getting a lot of correspondence from people that I represent who are sick of the same old game in this town. They are sick of everyone saying that we are just going to keep doing the same thing, and that we are going to, in this case, again, continue to expand the welfare state in a way that entices people to come and benefit from the United States illegally at a time when we have a heightened level of illegal traffic into the United States: 300,000 people crossing the border in December, and millions who have crossed under this President. We are now, in the middle of that crisis, going to continue to fuel the fire.
I think that is a mistake. I think it is a mistake for the country. I think it is a mistake on policy. I think it is a mistake politically.
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Mr. ROY.
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Mr. ROY.
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Mr. ROY. Sanchez).
Mr. Speaker, the truth is, illegal immigrants are eligible for the CTC expansion because they can get an individual taxpayer identification number in lieu of a Social Security number.
In fact, in the USA Today, somebody who is a proponent of this actually opined and wrote in the USA Today, ``How the Child Tax Credit Could Lift Undocumented Immigrants out of Poverty.''
That is just the truth. It is what we actually did in 2017. I don't care if my colleagues on this side of the aisle think that is a good idea. I don't care if they are willing to weigh that against what they believe is good for the corporate changes to the law, but don't try to snow the American people. That is what we are doing.
But my colleagues on this side of the aisle will thump their chest about being so great on the border, and yet, the border is wide open. There was still 300,000 pouring across in December.
Oh, what have we done? We had some votes, but we are still funding it. Here, we are not just funding it, we are juicing it. We are actually encouraging it. We are supplementing it. We are saying: Come on over here, have children, and get a tax credit.
How is that a policy that the American people want to support?
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Mr. ROY. Moore).
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
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Mr. ROY. DeLauro), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, The Wall Street Journal editorial last week said about this bill:
``Up to $1,600 of the $2,000 credit is refundable, and the bipartisan bill would make $2,000 refundable by 2025.'' Now, in fairness, ``A $1,400 limit was tethered to inflation under the 2017 GOP tax law and is thus increasing over time anyway.''
The general point here is: ``But at least admit this is income redistribution, not `tax relief'. . . . '' It is income redistribution.
``Worse, the deal undermines the incentive to work in return for the credit. The current credit at least requires a small amount of income-- a mere $2,500--to begin to claim it. That means it gives low-income Americans an incentive to work more to earn more, which is good for them and their children.''
However, this would allow parents to ``rely on the prior year's income to trigger the credit for 2024 and 2025. Work one year--and earn benefits for two. The practical effect is to `cut the work requirement in half,' '' according to a report by the American Enterprise Institute.
The fact is the editorial closes: ``The business lobby wants the tax breaks.'' By the way, this is The Wall Street Journal editorial. ``The business lobby wants the tax breaks, and some Democrats in Congress want them as well. But those policies ought to stand or fall on their merits, not on a political trade that will do more harm than good.''
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Mr. ROY.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I reiterate my appreciation to my friend, the chairman, and all those who worked on this bill in the Ways and Means Committee.
There are a lot of good provisions in this bill, many of which I support. There are good provisions in there to help economic growth-- the expensing provisions, interest, R&D--but I have serious reservations. The fact of the matter is for all those watching at home, to my constituents, this bill does not fix the problem that allows illegal aliens who have children who were born in the United States to claim the tax credit. It takes the problem we have with so-called birthright citizenship and anchor babies and doubles down on it, makes it worse. That was a mistake in 2017. We should rectify that mistake.
However, worse, it goes on and expands the credit.
Mr. Speaker, 91\1/2\ percent of the relief in this bill are cash welfare payments to families that pay no Federal income taxes. It provides a total of just $2.8 billion to working families that pay taxes over 3 years. The fact is, the credit does expand, and it gets to be refundable to the full tune of $2,000 by 2025.
These provisions undermine the benefits that we are trying to provide for economic growth which, I might add, are only a 2-year extension. It puts all of this in one big basket in 2025, taking away any leverage we are going to have by giving the other side what they want on the child tax credit.
The fact of the matter is, we should not be supporting this bill. We should be doing what we said we would do when we got into power: We should secure the border of the United States, we should cut spending, and we should honor what we campaigned on in this body.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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