[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 129 (Thursday, July 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5036-S5037]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CHILD TAX CREDIT

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, over the past week, we have put money 
directly--directly--in the pockets of the families of 60 million 
American children.
  In Ohio, 2.1 million children, their families got hundreds of dollars 
each in tax cuts, money to help them keep up with the costs of raising 
a family, money they will spend in the local economy--I say to the 
Presiding Officer, you know this, the largest tax cut for working 
families in American history ever.
  Stories have poured into our office from across Ohio--the Presiding 
Officer is hearing those in Hawaii--all from parents who work hard to 
make ends meet. They now have a little bit extra of their own money 
back to spend on groceries and childcare and medical bills and school 
supplies.
  We care about families. There is a lot of talk in this body about we 
care about families. Well, if you care about families, this is all 
about empowering families. Families decide how to spend these dollars; 
Mitch McConnell doesn't decide. Joe Biden doesn't decide. Brian Schatz 
doesn't decide. I don't decide how we spend these dollars. Families 
decide. They are dollars they have earned working hard to provide for 
their family--it is hard work raising children--and how they have 
raised their kids.
  I think all of us are hearing these stories. Some of them on our 
websites, some of us in townhalls, we are hearing these stories. Let me 
just briefly tell just a handful of them.
  Rob, from Copley, OH, said he is going to spend it on ``bills and 
necessities, especially necessities for [my] kids.''
  Traci said she is going to use it to ``pay for my children's sports 
fees.''
  One mother said, ``My 8-year-old was able to attend a Coding Camp 
this week'' for the first time. She was just thrilled.
  We know how expensive healthcare is. We know how medical bills and 
copays and premiums eat away at families' budgets. So many parents have 
talked about how this will help them afford healthcare expenses.
  Leanne, from Akron, is going to be able to afford ``my daughter's 
medical bills.''
  Hayley said she will use the tax cut ``to pay for speech therapy for 
[her] child.''
  Susan said it will allow her to ``pay for my child's dyslexia 
tutoring.''
  Jen said, ``Ours will be going straight''--you have to love this 
one--``Ours will be going straight to the orthodontist each month.''
  Brittney wrote that this tax cut ``came at a great time.'' She said:

       My son got sick with pneumonia this . . . week. That led to 
     an urgent care visit, breathing treatment, chest X-rays, and 
     a lot of medicine--so our payment will go to [emergency] 
     medical bills to make sure our son [can thrive] and has the 
     medicine he needs.

  The Presiding Officer may remember that there were two votes on the 
child tax credit. First, an amendment to take it out--every Republican 
voted to take it out--and then an amendment to pass the bill on March 6 
at about this time of day and every Republican voted against it. I know 
it is all about tax cuts for rich people for them, but we can get to 
that later.
  We know another benefit of this is, this is money spent in 
communities. I am not getting any notes from parents saying: ``You 
know, thank you, Senator Brown, for this child tax credit you have been 
working on for a decade. I am going to put more money in my Swiss bank 
account.'' Nobody is saying that. We have gotten so many stories 
already how this money supports the economy and supports jobs.
  Katie from Brecksville: Month 1, she is using it for ``a much-needed 
family vacation.'' Month 2, she is using it for ``school supplies.'' 
That supports hotel jobs and restaurants jobs and retail jobs.
  Lyndsay said she had used it for ``back to school clothes,'' again, 
supporting local retailers.
  Brittany from Butler said: ``We will be able to put new windows in 
the kids' bedrooms that will keep them cooler in the summer and warmer 
in the winter.'' That sounds like work for a local handyman or a woman 
or a window business.
  Lisa said she is spending it on ``diapers and school supplies . . . 
we put a little into starting a 529 college fund.''
  Think about that. These families are struggling. I don't know for 
sure, but sounds like Lisa may have a couple of children, so she gets 
this--they are little, so she is going to get $300 per child. So she 
gets $600 July 15. She will get $600 August 15. She will get $600 
September 15. She will get $600 October 15 and November 15. And she has 
decided she can now afford a few things she couldn't afford. But she is 
going to maybe put $100 of that every month into a 529 college fund so 
her child will be--the whole idea of infrastructure is building a base, 
a foundation, to launch children into better lifestyles, to launch 
children into a more productive life, to give kids opportunity. That is 
what this does. That is what the child tax credit does. And it is 
almost everybody.
  Ninety-two percent of Ohio kids' families are getting a tax cut every 
single month. So many parents mention the costs of childcare. So often, 
over and over, we hear how this will allow parents to afford the 
childcare that allows them to go to work.
  Courtney, a mother, wrote that her tax cut is already more than 
half--``slightly more than half the cost of part-time daycare tuition 
per month here in Athens,'' down in southeast Ohio. She said, it is 
appreciated so much, the ``help getting my child back into childcare 
and keeping me and my husband in the workforce.''
  So it comes back to one question--I think the Presiding Officer knows 
this--whose side are you on? Whose side are you on in these fights? Are 
you on the side of the parents who work hard every day for their 
families?
  In a dignity-of-work roundtable in our Senate Banking Committee, a 
woman from West Virginia said the words ``working'' and ``poor'' 
shouldn't be in the same sentence. The words ``working'' and ``poor'' 
shouldn't be in the same sentence. These are families who are working 
really hard. Give them a little bit of a break so they can rise above 
the poverty line so they can afford some things to launch their 
children into more productive lives.
  So are you on the side of these parents who work every day? Or are my 
colleagues going to raise these families' taxes at the end of the year? 
Because this expires next year, if we don't continue it. I haven't seen 
any help yet on their side wanting to come in. I am still hopeful.
  We remember what happened on 2017. The Presiding Officer remembers 
this. In 2017, you could walk out this door pretty much any time of 
day, and you could look down the hall in 2017, and you could see 
lobbyists lined up outside of Mitch McConnell's office, all well 
dressed, all really, really well paid, all hat in hand--some literally, 
some figuratively--saying: Senator McConnell, we need this additional 
tax break.
  Do you know what? We spend $1.5 trillion on that tax cut. They don't 
want to spend $100 billion a year on these children. One hundred 
billion is--I should do the math really quick--about 8 percent of $1.5 
trillion, something like that--6 percent. So they will

[[Page S5037]]

do $1.5 trillion in tax cuts. Seventy percent of it went to the richest 
people in the country. Yet they don't want to do tax cuts for children 
that elicit these stories.
  I don't recall, getting on my website, stories saying: You know, 
thank you, Senator Brown--even though I voted against it--thank you for 
that big tax cut back in 2017. I could buy another yacht, thank you. Or 
I get to go to Europe again, thank you.
  We don't hear those stories. Here are the stories you hear about 
these children who need that tax cut.
  So you will remember when they all lined up outside of our colleague 
Senator McConnell's office. You will remember that tax cut. They 
promised it would trickle down to everyone else and then it would 
create all this prosperity. Well, we know it didn't happen. They kept 
the money for themselves--no shock there. Corporations turned around 
and spent that money on--shocking--stock buybacks for their executives. 
They ended up, always, in the pockets of their executives.

  Now, this year, without a single vote from Republicans in Congress, 
who passed tax cuts for everyone else, a pretty simple contrast: tax 
cuts for billionaires and corporations--thank you very much--as they 
line up down the hall, or do you want tax cuts for working families?
  Every single month, we show parents and workers, every single month 
these checks are coming: $300 per child if your child is from newborn 
to 5, $250 a month if your child is from 6 to 17. Every single month, 
we show we are on your side. We are putting more of your own money back 
into your pockets.
  I know the Presiding Officer joins in this. We will not stop fighting 
to make sure parents' hard work pays off. We will not stop. We will 
deliver on this.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Iowa.

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