On September 25, by a vote of 202 to 207, the House rejected a symbolic parliamentary gesture in favor of giving the child income tax credit to people who pay no income taxes.
The vote was on a motion to instruct the conferees working in a House-Senate conference committee to report back with essentially the Senate version of the child tax credit bill-H.R. 1308. The Senate passed a version that simply gives so-called tax credits to people who don't pay taxes in the first place because of their low income-making it a form of welfare. The House version was a compromise bill that also bestows the welfare credits, but only with extra concessions from liberals for more tax cuts for actual taxpayers.
Because liberal senators refused to compromise and increase the size of the 2003 tax cuts, the bill died in conference committee during the summer after a media blitz in its favor-led by a New York Times front-page article-fizzled. Democrats, wanting to revive this issue now, saw an opportunity in this symbolic motion to instruct.
"The motion would have instructed the House conferees to include in the conference report all of the other provisions of the Senate bill and not report back a conference report that includes additional tax benefits, " explained Rep. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.). "House Republicans, I believe, are exploiting the child tax credit provision passed, and even more tax cuts that will saddle our children with mountains of debt."
Unlike all the other families in America, who pay slightly less in taxes when there is a tax cut, these non-tax-paying families to whom Pallone wants to give handouts not only pay nothing in taxes, but also to receive checks in the mail every year, simply for having children.
"I am the father of three children, and I received a $1,200 check, $400 for each of the three children," Pallone said of his own child tax credit. "It pains me to think, based on my income as a congressman, that many of my constituents who have one, three, or more children were not able to get that $400 per child, because they certainly need it a lot more than me."
Pallone did not offer to send his check to any of his constituents. In fact, his comments came just 21 days after he had effectively voted himself a pay increase (see HE rollcall, September 15) at the expense of American families that pay taxes.
While others argued against the motion on more or less technical grounds, Rep. Jim Duncan (R.-Tenn.) made the truly conservative argument that lower taxes and lower government spending benefit everyone in society. "It has been proven all over the world that the more money that can be left in the private sector, in whatever country, the better off everyone is, the better off, " said Duncan. "Especially the poor and low-income people of that particular country. In every country where we have been able to keep the amount of the GDP that the government takes to a relatively small amount, the better off everyone is, especially the poor and lower-income people."
A "yes " vote was a vote for the motion to instruct conferees on the child tax credit bill to give "tax credits " to parents who do not pay taxes. A "no " vote was a vote against the motion to instruct and was, in effect, a vote against giving such credits.
| FOR THE MOTION: 202 | AGAINST THE MOTION: 207 |
| REPUBLICANS FOR: 5 Castle Ehlers Jones (NC) Leach Upton DEMOCRATS FOR: 201 INDEPENDENTS FOR: 1 |
REPUBLICANS AGAINST: 207 Aderholt Akin Bachus Baker Ballenger Barrett (SC) Bartlett (MD) Barton (TX) Bass Beauprez Bereuter Biggert Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boehner Bonilla Bonner Bono Boozman Bradley (NH) Brown (SC) Brown-Waite, V. Burgess Burns Burr Burton (IN) Buyer Calvert Camp Cannon Carter Chabot Chocola Coble Cole Collins Cox Crenshaw Cubin Cunningham Davis, Jo Ann Davis, Tom Deal (GA) DeLay Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Doolittle Duncan Dunn Emerson English Everett Feeney Ferguson Flake Foley Forbes Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gibbons Gilchrest Gillmor Gingrey Goode Goodlatte Goss Granger Graves Green (WI) Gutknecht Harris Hart Hastings (WA) Hayes Hayworth Hefley Hensarling Herger Hobson Hoekstra Hostettler Houghton Hulshof Hunter Hyde Isakson Issa Istook Janklow Jenkins Johnson, Sam Johnson (CT) Johnson (IL) Keller Kelly Kennedy (MN) King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Kline Knollenberg Kolbe LaHood Latham LaTourette Lewis (CA) Lewis (KY) Linder LoBiondo Lucas (OK) Manzullo McCotter McCrery McHugh McInnis McKeon Mica Miller, Gary Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Moran (KS) Murphy Musgrave Myrick Nethercutt Neugebauer Ney Northup Norwood Nunes Nussle Osborne Ose Otter Oxley Paul Pearce Pence Peterson (PA) Petri Pitts Platts Pombo Porter Pryce (OH) Putnam Quinn Radanovich Ramstad Regula Rehberg Renzi Reynolds Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Royce Ryan (WI) Ryun (KS) Saxton Schrock Sensenbrenner Sessions Shadegg Shaw Shays Sherwood Shimkus Shuster Simmons Simpson Smith (MI) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Souder Stearns Sullivan Tancredo Tauzin Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Toomey Vitter Walden (OR) Walsh Wamp Weldon (FL) Weldon (PA) Weller Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (SC) Wolf Young (AK) Young (FL) |
NOT VOTING: 25
| REPUBLICANS (16): | DEMOCRATS (9): | INDEPENDENTS (0) |
| Boehlert Brady (TX) Cantor Capito Crane Culberson DeMint Dreier Fletcher Fossella Greenwood Pickering Portman Ros-Lehtinen Sweeney Turner (OH) |
Eshoo Fattah Gephardt Lipinski Murtha Reyes Stark Thompson (MS) Towns |
