Lawmakers Announce Bipartisan Tax Deal for Families, Businesses

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers announced a longshot deal Sunday night to expand the child tax credit for low-income families and restore expired tax breaks for businesses. 

The Details: The plan’s provisions include increasing the maximum tax credit per child from $1,600 to $2,000 through 2025, raising the ceiling for the low-income housing credit, cutting off new claims for the fraud-laden employee retention tax credit, and restoring business deductions for research, interest payments, and capital investments. However, the deal faces some skeptics in both parties, making its path to becoming law unclear. 

Key Quotes: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) announced the deal, calling it a “common sense, bipartisan, bicameral tax framework that promotes the financial security of working families, boosts growth and American competitiveness, and strengthens communities and Main Street businesses.”

For Context: Child poverty fell to its lowest recorded level in 2021 — a 46% drop — following Congress’ previous expansions of the child tax credit, the Census Bureau reported. However, the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022, after Congress allowed the expanded child tax credit to lapse amid record inflation. 

How the Media Covered It: Coverage was common in most mainstream political outlets, except Fox News (Right bias). Coverage appeared fairly positive across the spectrum, although most articles noted that the deal “faced challenges” and was a “longshot.”