[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 319-320]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  WORKING FAMILY CHILD ASSISTANCE ACT

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, yesterday, I joined Senator Lincoln to 
introduce legislation to make permanent the tremendous change Congress 
enacted last October to enhance the refundable child tax credit. To 
assist working families, Congress reduced the amount of earnings a 
family must have to qualify for the refundable child tax credit to 
$8,500 for 2008 from the $12,050 that prevailed prior to passage of the 
Act. Unfortunately, because Congress did not make the incentive 
permanent, families will have to earn at least $12,550--$4,050 more--
this year to take advantage of the incentive.
  At a time in which the economy is in recession and many have to work 
two or even three jobs to put food on the table, it would be 
unconscionable to make families toil even harder to provide their 
children with life's necessities. That is why I am so proud to 
introduce the Working Family Child Assistance Act to permanently set 
the amount of earnings necessary to qualify for the refundable child 
tax credit at $8,500.
  Last October's change to boost the refundable child tax credit took a 
significant time to materialize, and although the road was long, it was 
a worthwhile journey. Indeed, our work began in 2001 when I pushed to 
make the child tax credit refundable for workers making around the 
minimum wage. As enacted in 2001, a portion of a taxpayer's child tax 
credit would be refundable--up to 10 percent of earnings above $10,000.
  Not resting on our victory in 2001, in 2004, Congress passed the 
Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004, which increased from 10 
percent to 15 percent the portion of the child tax credit that is 
refundable. Although the legislation increased the amount of the 
refundable child credit, it failed to increase the number of families 
eligible for the benefit. The reason was that it did not reduce the 
amount of earnings a family must have to qualify for the incentive. 
Worse still, the earnings threshold rose each year because it was 
adjusted for inflation. The consequences were serious for low-income 
Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck because it meant that tens of 
thousands of low-income families were left completely ineligible for a 
credit they should receive.
  To ensure that low-income families could get the benefits that they 
so rightly deserve, I worked with my colleagues to introduce 
legislation in both 2005 and 2007 to reduce the earnings threshold for 
the refundable child tax credit to $10,000 and to de-index that amount 
for inflation. As I mentioned, we were more successful than that last 
year when Congress lowered the earnings threshold for 2008 to $8,500.
  Unfortunately, we cannot rest on our laurels and must get right back 
to work. This year, because the incentive we passed last October was 
effective for just 2008, only taxpayers earning over $12,550 are 
eligible to receive the refundable portion of the child tax credit. 
Low-income families earning less than that amount are shut out of the 
child tax credit completely.
  As an example of how crucial it is to enact our legislation to 
permanently set the threshold for the refundable credit at $8,500, 
let's look at the following example. A single mother who

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earns the current minimum wage of $6.55 per hour and works a 40 hour 
week for all 52 weeks of the year would earn $13,264. Accordingly, 
under the law effective for 2009, her refundable child tax credit would 
be $161. In contrast, if the earnings threshold were set at $8,500, her 
refundable child tax credit would jump to $715. Thus, if Congress does 
not change the law, that mother will have 554 fewer dollars in her 
pocket this year than she did last year. Put another way, she won't 
have the money that is so necessary for her to clothe her child and put 
gas in the car. What is even more regrettable is that the $554 amount 
will only grow next year because the $12,550 she needed to earn this 
year is adjusted for inflation and will increase.
  Let's do the right thing and make permanent the sensible change 
Congress made last year to set the earnings threshold for the 
refundable child tax credit at $8,500. Our families and our country are 
better off when Government lets people keep more of what they earn, 
particularly the most vulnerable among us. Parents deserve their per-
child tax credit, and this bill rewards families for work.
  In conclusion, I would note that President-elect Obama was a stalwart 
supporter of our efforts as a Member of the Senate, and I hope that he 
will work with Congress so we can help an additional 1 million 
children, whose parents and guardians struggle every day to take care 
of them.

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