(Bloomberg) -- JD Vance, who generated campaign-trail controversy with arguments the government should more strongly favor families with children, skipped a Senate vote on a bipartisan tax plan that would have been a step in that direction.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the $78 billion tax-cut package that would benefit an estimated 16 million children through an expanded child tax credit. It also would provide breaks for US businesses.
Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, stirred furious criticism after 2021 comments surfaced in which he disparaged as “childless cat ladies” Democrats including Vice President Kamala Harris, who has two stepchildren. He argued their policies don’t do enough for families.
The Harris campaign and Senate Democrats immediately blasted Vance for missing the vote and instead traveling to Arizona for a campaign event criticizing President Joe Biden’s performance on border enforcement.
“While JD Vance is off not doing his job as senator and taking a break from insulting women across America, he’s missing the vote to support a tax cut for families,” the Harris campaign said in a statement emailed to reporters after the Senate vote.
Vance spokesperson Parker Magid said in a statement that the tax cuts “didn’t even come close to passing” and were destined to fail regardless of Vance’s vote. Magid didn’t say how Vance would have voted on the legislation.
Democrats couldn’t muster the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster blocking the Senate from considering the tax package. The procedural step received 48 votes in favor and 44 against, with several senators not voting.
The bill allows more of the $2,000 per child tax credit to be paid to individuals with such low income they currently only qualify for part of the credit. It would also bolster payments to low-income filers with more than one child. The maximum credit for all parents would be indexed to inflation for two years starting in 2024.
The tax package passed the House on a 357 to 70 vote in January with broad support from both parties. It also would provide a boon for US companies with large capital and domestic research expenditures and has been a top priority of business lobbyists.
Some senior Republicans argued the tax credit expansion for low-income families would be too large and discourage them from working. Others had a purely political calculus, pushing their colleagues to block the bill lest millions of families get checks from the IRS before the November election and thereby help Harris’s presidential campaign.
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