Jayapal Statement on Vote for Bipartisan Tax Package
WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement after voting for the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024. The legislation passed by a margin of 357-70.
“At the end of the day, this legislation will put more money in the pockets of working families, including supporting 12,000 kids in my district. This was a vote to raise the Child Tax Credit (CTC), adjust it for inflation, and make sure more of it is refundable, as well as improve the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to address the growing deficit of homes in the Seattle area by adding 6,890 new affordable housing units in Washington State.
“However, I’m disappointed that my Republican colleagues were unwilling to give this much-needed relief without tying it dollar-for-dollar to tax breaks for the largest corporations. They should not be selling out working families to pad their donor’s wallets. Instead, we should have fully restored the version of CTC that slashed child poverty in half, and almost immediately reduced food insecurity by 24 percent. Additionally, as Washington State grapples with a shortage of more than 170,000 affordable housing units, this package was a missed opportunity to support new permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness and other extremely low-income households through LIHTC.
“While I find this trade-off troubling and I strongly believe that we need to do everything possible to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share, this vote was for the working families in Seattle and communities across the country who will benefit from an expanded CTC, and I recommit myself to ensuring that we fully fund the CTC to the benefit of as many people as possible when Democrats are back in control of the House. ”
Jayapal has been fighting to reinstate the expanded CTC since it expired at the end of 2021. She led more than 55 colleagues in an effort to reject a standalone giveaway to corporations unless it also expanded the CTC. She also brought a CTC recipient from Seattle to join her at the 2022 State of the Union.
Issues: Housing, Transportation, & Infrastructure, Jobs, Labor, & the Economy