CAN'T TOUCH THIS

DeLay Rebuffs Move to Restore Lost Tax Credit (DAVID FIRESTONE, 6/04/03, NY Times)

The House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay, said today that the House would not consider a Democratic measure to provide an increased tax credit to 6.5 million low-income families who did not receive it in the new tax law.

Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican, said the increased tax credits would be approved only if they were part of a broader tax-cut package, possibly including permanent repeal of the estate tax or making state sales taxes deductible. A package of that size would require 60 votes to pass in the Senate, and Democratic opposition to big new tax cuts would make such passage almost impossible. [...]

Like Mr. DeLay, many Senate Republicans would prefer to consider the child credits as part of a more expensive bill that would cut other taxes. One such bill, introduced today by the chief Senate tax writer, Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Finance Committee, would extend the credit to both minimum-wage families and to far wealthier married couples. While the child credit is now phased out for couples making more than $110,000, Mr. Grassley's bill would begin the phase-out at $150,000.

The White House, which had stayed on the sidelines since President Bush signed the tax law last week, today extended support to Mr. Grassley's bill.

Let the Democrats have their cut, but load it with GOP cuts too. Then let's see if the Democrats vote to kill it. Either way the GOP win. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 4, 2003 10:45 AM