Republican 'Optimistic' Congress Will Send Americans More Direct Payments

House Republican Brian Fitzpatrick is "optimistic" that there could be more direct payments delivered to Americans at the federal level, even as his colleagues remain hesitant to add to the nation's deficit.

As talks over a comprehensive tax reform package begin in Congress, Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on remaking the country's tax policy. Democrats have prioritized reviving the expired child tax credit expansion, while most Republicans are eyeing to keep Trump-era tax breaks that are set to expire in 2025. But the congressman agrees with his colleagues across the aisle on the benefit and remains hopeful the expansion could make its way into the final tax package.

"The Child Tax Credit provides meaningful tax relief for many working American families," Fitzpatrick, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee told Newsweek on Tuesday.

"I am optimistic that both sides of the aisle can work together to achieve a fair compromise on this issue and reach a solution that will support working families while ensuring that the credit is fiscally sustainable for the long-term," the Pennsylvania Republican, who has previously vowed to keep the conversation alive within the panel, said.

For six months during the COVID pandemic, the federal government gave parents up to $300 a month per child, payments that are credited with cutting child poverty by as much as 30 percent. But multiple efforts to bring the tax credit back after it expired in 2021 have remained unsuccessful.

Polls show that the majority of Americans support the child tax credit. A September 2022 survey conducted by Washington-based Lake Research Partners found that 75 percent of voters favor the tax benefit, with 52 percent saying they strongly favor it, compared to the 19 percent who don't support it.

Another poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos in 2021 also found that the policy was supported by 75 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of Republicans. The same poll showed President Joe Biden with an 11 percent approval among Republicans, suggesting that while the Democratic commander-in-chief wasn't popular, his tax policy was.

While Fitzpatrick may be arguably the most vocal supporter of a child tax credit in the House GOP, other Republicans have suggested that they'd be open to bringing the direct payments back if it's whittled down to fit the package. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that permanently extending the COVID-era version of the tax benefit would cost the government $105 billion a year.

But it will be a tense fight against the Democrats, who are not only proposing that Congress revive the $300 monthly payments as they were but also calling for a new bonus to go out to families with newborn babies. House Democrats have introduced legislation that would deliver new parents $2,000 for the month that their baby is born, pushing up the tax credit from $3,600 a year to as high as $53,000 for families with newborns.

Fitzpatrick did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment on the Democrats' proposal or provide a price tag for an acceptable child tax credit.

The Republican members of the House and Ways panel unveiled their tax package, a set of three separate bills collectively known as the American Families and Jobs Act, last month. Nonpartisan congressional forecasters estimate the GOP tax cuts would run approximately $240 billion over the next decade.

But while Committee Chairman Representative Jason Smith described the legislation as an answer to the "needs and concerns voiced by the American people," the White House has blasted the proposal as a "tax scam" that gives cuts to wealthier Americans and corporations "at the expense of everyone else."