By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, joined Ivanka Trump and leaders from the House and Senate to promote a plan to expand the child tax credit to help working families.
“Expanding the child tax credit is the right thing to do,” Roby said at a news conference promoting the proposal. “For the people I represent, this can make a big difference. For that mom working a retail job or the dad driving the truck or the parent working two or three jobs so the other one can stay home – having a couple thousand dollars in your pocket is a big deal. I promise you parents know how to spend that money better than the government does,” Congresswoman Roby said.
“Over the years, as wages have stagnated the costs of raising a family have grown exponentially,” Ivanka said. “It is a priority of this administration and it is a legislative priority to ensure that American families can thrive and that we deliver real and meaningful tax relief to middle-income Americans.”
According to Roby, Ivanka Trump has championed policies to help working families in the Trump administration, and said the child tax credit expansion is key to the president’s commitment to ensuring tax reform benefits to middle-class Americans.
Under the tax reform framework from House and Senate Republicans and the White House, the child tax credit would be significantly increased and made available to more middle and lower income Americans. Details of the tax reform proposal are still being crafted.
Ivanka Trump is a senior adviser to President Trump and is his eldest daughter by first wife, Ivana.
The current child tax credit provides working families with $1,000 per child. Rubio said Wednesday that the credit should be increased to about $2,000 per child and should be made fully refundable.
Roby and Ivanka were joined on Wednesday by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, who have both pushed for expanding the tax credit previously. They have worked with Ivanka Trump on including the tax credit in any tax reform plan. Ivanka has been calling members of the House and the Senate to build support for the proposal.
“If we don’t do the child tax credit and we don’t make it refundable against payroll taxes, then the middle class and working families in this country will have a tax increase. Not a tax cut. Not even break even. They will have a tax increase. The president is not going to sign a tax increase on working families. And that bill actually wouldn’t even pass. So the bottom line is we either put it in and it passes or it doesn’t get in and it won’t pass and/or he will veto it. So that’s why I know it’s going to happen. We just have to keep working and make sure it’s crafted appropriately,” Sen. Rubio said.
Republican Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia and Dean Heller of Nevada; and GOP Representatives Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Kevin Yoder of Kansas, and Claudia Tenney of New York were also there.
Congresswoman Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. Roby was first elected to Congress in 2010 and is serving her fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Original reporting by the Washington Examiner, Fox News, the Fox Business Channel, and the Voice of America News, contributed to this report.
