A top House Democrat suggested Thursday that his party scale back eligibility for child tax credits as a way to unlock President Joe Biden’s stalled economic agenda.
Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, speaking in a video interview with the Washington Post, said he would support a lower income cap in a revived form of the child tax credit to get West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to vote for Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.
“I would like to see him come forward with a bill for the child tax credit that’s means-tested. I think it would pass. He’d get it through the Senate. I think we could get it through the House,” Clyburn said. “So, there’s a lot in Build Back Better that he says he’s for—so, let’s do that.”
Manchin, in a radio interview Thursday, suggested the child tax credit should be “targeted” to individuals making less than $75,000 per year and that he is willing to discuss revisions to that could be made to keep it in the legislation.
“There’s a lot of conversations going on now. They’ve been reaching out and everything. We haven’t sat down, physically, and started any negotiations,” Manchin said on West Virginia MetroNews’s “Talkline” on Thursday.
But Manchin also reiterated concerns about inflation, which he has said would be exacerbated by more federal spending.
“You should be scared to death about inflation and what it can do,” Manchin said.
Clyburn said Manchin has spoken in favor of increasing health-care coverage for lower-income individuals through the expansion of Medicaid. Clyburn argued that making health care and child care more affordable would increase the number of working adults.
“I think the president says, let’s pass this chunk, and that chunk, and maybe we’ll get some parts done,” Clyburn said.
The House in November passed a $2 trillion tax, climate and social spending bill, but it stalled in the Senate in December after Manchin said he opposed it. Manchin’s vote is needed in the 50-50 chamber to pass any bill under the budget process.