Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is taking a tougher stance with Senate Republican holdouts on his bipartisan tax deal, putting the onus on them to produce concrete demands.
Time is ticking away for the Senate to find a path forward on the bill expanding the child tax credit and reviving business tax breaks during this filing season, which is proponents’ goal. Wyden’s new tone comes as supporters are honing in on where Finance panel Republicans will land in the weeks ahead.
Here’s Wyden’s message to GOP colleagues:
Finance’s top Republican, Mike Crapo (Idaho), is opposed to the bill, and some fellow Finance Republicans have been vocal critics. Plenty of GOP senators aren’t saying how they’ll come down on the proposal, and a couple have said publicly they’re supportive.
Crapo has said he won’t support allowing families to use prior-year earnings to qualify for child tax credit benefits. Finance Republicans have also called for a markup of the legislation.
Wyden responded that it’s not clear they’re requests that would get Republicans’ backing. “I’m trying to bring this out of fantasy land, and to bring this down to whether [Republicans] really want to get to yes,” Wyden said.
Meanwhile in credit card reform: A key Republican sponsor of the Credit Card Competition Act said he’s “concerned” about the proposed merger of Capital One and Discover but hasn’t fully made up his mind.
We caught up last night with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who hadn’t weighed in publicly on the $35 billion transaction since it was announced on Feb 19. The Kansas Republican said “I haven’t decided if I’m for or against it yet.”
Here’s more from Marshall:
We asked whether Marshall thought the CCCA could change in structure or scope in response to the Capital One-Discover deal. “Nothing that we would change in our bill,” Marshall replied. “I think it just adds emphasis to what a challenge, what a concern the situation is right now.”
One last thing: The House Financial Services Committee has noticed a markup for Thursday, Feb. 29 that will cover fintech and national security legislation. Should be fun!
– Laura Weiss and Brendan Pedersen
