Vice criticizes McConnell for thinking – like all Dems – child tax credit would be popular
May 4, 2022
According to Vice, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) was terrified that the child tax credit would be too popular. This makes McConnell just like every Democrat in Congress, who hoped like heck that the child tax credit would be really popular.
“Because of course he was, it turns out that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was ‘deeply concerned’ about the expanded child tax credit included in last year’s COVID relief package proving to be too popular,” the piece said.
Of course, one side was worried, the other hoping, but the basic calculation was on the same point.
To illustrate, think about how that expanded child tax credit was funded and legislated for. It was for one year only. Why was this?
Part of it was that insistence that a package of legislation shouldn’t increase the deficit out at the 10-year range. But within that envelope of possibilities, the Democratic calculation was that it would be so popular that no one would dare to not carry it on. Finance would be found from somewhere, a vote to continue it was bound to happen. On the grounds that giving money to every parent in the country, of course, it was going to be so popular that it would carry on.
Which is exactly the same thing McConnell was worried about. That it would be so popular that it would continue.
Vice is a substantial part of the modern media – the cable TV channel reaches 60 million American homes, the magazine distributes 900,000 copies. The website here gains some 27 million visits a month.
As it happens the child tax credit was very popular but not enough for everyone to get over the feeling that perhaps just giving money to everyone wasn’t really solving a problem. But still, fun to criticize a Republican for worrying about exactly what every Democrat was hoping for, isn’t it?