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Senator Marco Rubio wants to be in the Oval Office. He wants it so badly he can taste it. If Hillary Clinton had won, he’d be one of the frontrunners to take her on in 2020. His supporters would say it was too early in 2016 for him, that he got “trumped,” that Ted Cruz played dirty, and that 2020 is his year. Hillary didn’t win, so the narrative has shifted. He’s now looking to build up a resume worthy of a 2024 run… or a 2020 run should President Trump choose not to run.
He isn’t alone in his desire to distinguish himself. Others have made moves to distance themselves from the GOP Establishment, whether for a future run at higher office or simply to be able to keep their seats. They’re doing what they can to challenge current GOP orthodoxy and even touch on bucking against President Trump without drawing his ire. They learned that they don’t want to be Bob Corker or Jeff Flake, but they also don’t want to be Chris Collins or Duncan Hunter.
The most populist play Rubio has ever made, his Gang of 8 amnesty push, blew up in his face and contributed to him not building the groundswell he needed in 2015 to make 2016 his year. Now, he’s taking another shot at a populist perspective with the child tax credits. Daniel Horowitz over at Conservative Review posted an excellent breakdown of why this is terrible:
Why Marco Rubio is dead wrong on taxes
How do you offer a significant tax cut to those who pay no federal income taxes? That is a question that seems to be vexing Sen. Marco Rubio to the point that he is willing to hold up a bill that already doubles the child tax credit. But it is the wrong question to be asking.
The question we should be asking is how we can have less socialism, not more wealth redistribution, so that the economy can grow and everyone can enjoy upward mobility through better jobs, higher wages, and cheaper goods and services.
I don’t like the GOP tax plan and Rubio’s push is going to make it worse. The GOP will bend on this one. They need the tax cuts to go through so badly they’re willing to deal with anyone on just about anything. Nothing’s off the table. They need the President’s signature on something significant that they put on his desk before the end of the year or they feel like they’re going to lose big in 2018. They might do that either way, though the Democrats are doing everything they can to distance themselves from their base as well as from reality itself.
The best thing going for the GOP is that the Democrats are pushing further to the left.
Rubio would have the GOP push further to the left as well. The former Tea Party candidate has systematically betrayed his promises both made and implied over the last seven years. This change to child tax credits is just another reason to believe he’s against the limited-government principles he once promised to uphold.
Update
As predicted…
GOP tax bill enhances child tax credit in response to Rubio
The final GOP tax bill will enhance the child tax credit, according to four GOP sources. Enhancing the refundability of the credit was a key demand of Sen. Marco Rubio, who threatened to vote no on the bill if it wasn’t addressed, and Sen. Mike Lee, who was undecided.
“We have not seen text but I think it is fair to say the working families will get more tax relief in the final bill,” said Conn Carroll, a Lee spokesman. The conference report will allow families with no income tax liability to receive $1,400 of the $2,000 credit, according to the WSJ and confirmed by an aide. The original Rubio-Lee ask was that the credit be fully refundable up to payroll tax liability.
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