Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I rise today with deep antipathy and disappointment for the persistent political games being played in this Chamber. As a pastor, I am particularly bothered when those games are played with children.
Today, by all accounts, the Senate will fail to pass legislation with strong bipartisan support that will make a serious difference in the lives of everyday Georgians and their children. We are on track to do the right thing by our children.
But, once again, politics--as we enter the silly season of politics-- is getting in the way of extending the expanded child tax credit. It is not only the right thing to do morally, it is the smart thing to do economically.
I have to say that I find that often that is the case with our public policy. Very often, the right thing to do is also the smart thing to do. And it is politics and politics alone that gets in the way. Were it not for the cynical politics in Washington, passing this bill would be a no- brainer.
The moral question that we have to ask ourselves is, Are we so focused on the next election that we can't focus on the next generation?
It is beyond nonsensical that there are some who have previously preached about the importance of lowering taxes, but they are getting ready to vote down a tax cut for middle- and working-class families.
I think it is important to underscore that point because I recognize the folks at home, when they hear words like ``tax credit,'' ``expanded child tax credit,'' they are engaged in their work; they may not readily know what we are talking about. It is a tax cut. That is what it is, a tax cut for middle- and working-class families. And when we passed it back in 2021, it was, in fact, the largest tax cut for middle- and working-class families in American history.
But now we have the same lawmakers who love to talk about the need to lower taxes on middle- and working-class Americans--an argument I hear often--they are getting ready to vote down this tax cut. So the next time that I hear them talking about the need to cut taxes, I am going to ask my colleagues: How did you vote today? How did you vote when you had an opportunity to provide tax relief for ordinary people?
Maybe the issue is not so much tax cuts; it is for whom. Is it for those who need it the least or those who can benefit from it the most?
The bipartisan tax relief bill, negotiated in good faith by my friend the senior Senator from Oregon, is legislation that will offer a helping hand to ordinary families because we know that when ordinary people thrive, the economy thrives. And the reason the economy thrives is because when people who do not have a lot of disposable income--or virtually no disposable income--when they get a little bit of relief, you know, they buy extravagant things, you know, like a coat for their kid for winter, some more food, an opportunity to get some afterschool enrichment. That is what I think about.
I think about a mom that I met in Columbus, GA, named Denise, who in the weeks after we passed the expanded child tax credit said to me: Senator, I am so grateful that you all got this done. She said that she used those extra dollars to help prepare her daughter to go back to school and to help take care of her household as she was transitioning between jobs. It was a win for her, a win for her daughter, a win for the American economy.
Let's be clear. The bill that we are taking up today would help reduce poverty for some 636,000 children in Georgia and their families.
If I am honest, it is the kind of work that spurred me, a pastor, to get involved in politics in the first place. I put up with politics in order to do things like this. When we passed the expanded child tax credit, we literally cut child poverty 40 percent or more in America. But because we only did it for 6 months, we went back and doubled it. We can do better than that.
These dollars are going right back into the economy, helping small businesses and helping local economies to be stronger. We are helping families, helping businesses, helping our economy. Not only that, but we know that the smartest investment we can make is investing in our children. When we invest in our kids--especially in getting them out of poverty--we literally save them from the trauma, the actual trauma that poverty creates.
So I stand advocating, pushing, begging my colleagues to reconsider.
You know, I grew up in public housing. I wouldn't be standing here today if it were not for good Federal public policy. I worked hard. I put my shoes on every morning. I come from a family that emphasized a strong work ethic. But I needed all of that and good Federal public policy to be standing on this floor right now.
I am the beneficiary of Head Start, which, by the way, Project 2025 wants to go after. Head Start, which gives poor children access to literacy, sets the foundation for a good life.
In high school, another good Federal program called Upward Bound put me on a college campus every summer and every Saturday so I knew I belonged on college campuses. And then Pell grants and student loans ensured I could make my way through college.
The expanded child tax credit is part of that good public policy, strengthening ordinary people. It would strengthen their families and would strengthen the American economy.
The time to do that is now. The time now is not to focus on November but to focus on what we can do right now. Dr. King was right: The time to do right is always right and that time is right now.
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