It didn’t start out as a good week politically for President Bush, who made it clear that he wants a new child tax credit bill on his desk that would give a tax break to families who were shut out of the original law because they didn’t earn enough to pay many —or any —income tax.
The Senate already passed such a bill, but House conservatives balked, prompting Bush to make his views on the issue known.
The president’s clout at first seemed to be on shaky ground. House Republican leader Tom DeLay of Texas was widely quoted as saying “Ain’t going to happen,” about such a measure, but he slowly came around.
On Thursday, the Republican-led House approved an $82 billion tax cut for families with children, setting the stage for a fight with the Senate over record deficits, but allowing low-income workers to benefit from a higher child tax credit.
By a vote of 224-201, the House backed the bill that would extend the $1,000 child tax credit through 2010 and allow more higher-income families as well as low-income families to benefit from it.
