An expanded federal tax credit program that has paid tens of thousands of Alaska families up to $300 per child per month since July will expire Friday after Congress failed to pass the Build Back Better Act.
All three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation opposed the Build Back Better legislation, which was backed by Democrats, but Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she is open to considering the expanded child tax credit if it advances as a standalone bill.
Looking ahead to 2022, Murkowski said in a year-end interview that she expects Democrats to revive pieces of Build Back Better as targeted initiatives. The bill narrowly passed the House but died in the Senate after U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, said he would oppose it and no Republicans stood in support.
As a whole, Murkowski said, she didn’t support the bill. “I think Joe Manchin gave the country a gift … when he said that he was not going to be supporting the Democrats’ initiative,” she said.
But regarding the expanded child tax credit specifically, Murkowski said she may be open to negotiations.
“If somebody wants to ask me to sit down with them and talk about — is there a way that we could work on a expanded child tax credit that we’re going to be able to pay for and is going to be helping families, I would say, absolutely. Let me sit down and talk and see what we can do,” Murkowski said.
