Child Credit Preservation and Expansion Act of 2004

CHILD CREDIT PRESERVATION AND EXPANSION ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - May 20, 2004)

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 644, I call up the bill (H.R. 4359) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the child tax credit, and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 644, the bill is considered read for amendment.

The text of H.R. 4359 is as follows:

H.R. 4359

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the "Child Credit Preservation and Expansion Act of 2004".

SEC. 2. INCREASE IN CHILD TAX CREDIT.

(a) IN GENERAL.-Subsection (a) of section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to child tax credit) is amended to read as follows:

"(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.-There shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year with respect to each qualifying child of the taxpayer an amount equal to $1,000.".

(b) INCREASE IN PHASEOUT THRESHOLDS.-Paragraph (2) of section 24(b) of such Code is amended to read as follows:

"(2) THRESHOLD AMOUNT.-For purposes of paragraph (1), the term 'threshold amount' means $125,000 ($250,000 in the case of a joint return).".

© ACCELERATION OF INCREASE IN REFUNDABLE PORTION OF CREDIT.-Clause (i) of section 24(d)(1)(B) of such Code is amended by striking "(10 percent in the case of taxable years beginning before January 1, 2005)".

(d) COMBAT PAY TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.-Paragraph (1) of section 24(d) of such Code is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: "For purposes of subparagraph (B), any amount excluded from gross income by reason of section 112 shall be treated as earned income which is taken into account in computing taxable income for the taxable year.".

(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.-The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2003.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SUNSET.

Title IX of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 shall not apply to the provisions of, and amendments made by, sections 201 and 203 of such Act.

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

This has got to be a frustrating debate for the American public, these tax bills. It is a frustrating debate for those of us who were for much of what is proposed. It is certainly a frustrating debate for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, over the last 4 weeks, our Republican friends have worn their reckless tax cut hearts on their sleeves. That is a pretty harsh phrase. But for those of us who believe we ought to balance America's budget as we ought to balance family budgets, it is nevertheless, I think, accurate.

Republicans have cynically put popular tax legislation on the floor and dared Democrats to oppose it knowing full well that the only reason that many Members on our side of the aisle would cast "no" votes against such bills is because they were not paid for, and on the pretense somehow that cutting taxes, cutting revenues, cutting prices, if you will, for what we buy, whether it is defense, education, health care at NIH, CIA agents, FBI investigators, whatever we are buying, you will want to cut the cost and will not pay for it. You want to put it on our national credit card, and you want my kids and your kids and our grandchildren to pay for it.

Very frankly, if this were a Democratic President today making these proposals, there is not a person on your side of the aisle that would not be outraged at the fiscal profligacy, at the fiscal irresponsibility, at the fiscal immorality of the policies that you are pursuing.

I assume you go back to your districts and say, oh, the deficit will take care of itself, just as it did in the 90s. Baloney. What took care of the fiscal deficit in the 90s was a bill that George Bush, the first, had the courage to sign, a bill in 1993 that no Republican voted for in the House or the Senate. And in 1997, in a bipartisan way, we came together and passed a balanced budget amendment for which I voted, and we passed PAYGO, for which most of you voted, which said that PAYGO would apply to spending and to taxes.

You are digging a hole. You are not digging a hole for yourself, though. You are digging a hole for my children, my grandchildren, and all the children and grandchildren in America who are going to have to pay this debt.

I do not get it. I do not get the intellectual disconnect between what you said in the 70s and 80s and 90s and what you are saying today. I do not get it. And you are hoping the American public does not get it either. You are hoping the American public is saying only that I want tax cuts. I want tax cuts. I want tax cuts and to heck with my children.

We are talking about one another. How sad. The deficit is going to be half a trillion dollars this year. When I came to Congress it was $985 billion. Last year we raised the debt limit by $900-plus billion. And yesterday all of you voted, almost all, to increase the debt limit by $670 billion. And how your side of the aisle railed, and the gentlewoman from Connecticut has been here long enough to remember that railing, against increasing the debt. How awful that was and we ought to stand up and vote for it.

And what did you do? You hid it by the Hastert rule in your budget because you did not have the courage to stand up and say, these are the policies that I am going to pursue as a Representative of the Congress of the United States.

Democrats are for fixing the marriage penalty. Democrats are for keeping the 10 percent tax bracket. Democrats are for fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax. Democrats are for making the child tax credits permanent. We are for that, and we are for paying for it so that we do not say we are going to fix it. But generations to come, young people, hear me, young people, you are going to pay for it. That is bad policy. That is bad morality.

Let us pass the Democratic alternative, which seeks to be responsible and honest with America and with generations yet to come.

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