Steny Hoyer: “Eighty-four days since the President of the United States, through his press secretary, said we ought to pass this…”

“Eighty-four days since the President of the United States, through his press secretary, said we ought to pass this legislation, 84 days that we have been fiddling while, figuratively speaking, those who would be entitled to this child tax credit, 6 rac{1}{2} ext{ million families, 12 million children, have been burned while we fiddle around here in Washington. The majority is proud of the fact that it can move legislation when it wants to. They have demonstrated that ability. There is therefore no doubt, that the words of the President's press secretary 84 days ago saying that we ought to take care of these families, we ought to take care of these children, we ought to give this tax credit to those families who are the neediest families in America. This is not unique. The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) brought an amendment to the floor dealing with the earned income tax credit, some of the lowest wage earners in America. And guess what? We are going to get them. That is what happened in the ITC amendment. Now, here with the child tax credit in the dead of night, the conferees, indeed the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, to be more specific, removed this provision from the conference report included by the Senate.”