Why Marco Rubio Threatened Tax Reform at the Last Minute

Congressional Republicans appear to have Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) back on board, ready to vote for the biggest tax reform since 1986.

Rubio had been threatening to vote “no” on the final conference bill that both the House and Senate have to approve before it goes to President Donald Trump’s desk.

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Since the first version of the Senate tax bill passed by a vote of 51-49, Rubio’s defection might have caused a tie-breaking scenario that would force Vice President Mike Pence to cast the 51st vote. (Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, declined to support the tax reform bill because of deficit concerns.)

Rubio voted for that version, but was hoping the negotiated conference version with the House would include an increased child tax credit for poor families.

Rubio took his lobbying efforts to Twitter, noting the expanded tax credit would help, but not enough.

“Tax deal doubles #ChildTaxCredit from $1,000 to $2,000,” Rubio tweeted. “But for millions of #workingclass families, only 55 percent of the $2,000 is available to them … Can only support bill if percentage of the 2K #ChildTaxCredit available to #workingclass parents is increased to percentage meaningfully higher than 55 percent.”

Rubio said Friday that working-class families with an income range between $20,000 and $50,000 in annual wages often get forgotten in the tax debates.

The refundable amount was $1,100 in the Senate bill. The final Republican tax bill will increase the amount of the refundable child tax credit to $1,400, according to The Hill, after a push from Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.). That appears to be enough to get the vote of Rubio and his ally in the fight, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

Fox Business and NBC News reported they confirmed from sources close to Rubio that he is a “yes” vote.

Just after 2 p.m. Friday, Rubio indicated he is happy that working-class families will now get up to 70 percent of the credit. And he indicated he will return to the issue in 2018.

“There is still much more to do in the months and years to come,” Rubio tweeted.

Rubio’s office did not immediately return a message from LifeZette.

The tax reform bill will be voted on by both chambers next week. The bill will likely cut the corporate tax rate, cut rates for unincorporated small businesses, and reduce income taxes for individual filers and families.

PoliZette White House writer Jim Stinson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.

(photo credit, homepage image: Marco Rubio, cut out, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Gage Skidmore; photo credit, article image: Marco Rubio, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Gage Skidmore)