The child tax credit was strongly championed by Ivanka Trump. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo House tax bill falls short of Ivanka Trump's ask on child tax credit

Ivanka Trump doesn’t always get what she wants.

The House Republican tax plan unveiled on Thursday includes one of Trump’s pet issues – the child tax credit – but expands it less generously than the White House senior adviser and first daughter had hoped.


Recently, Trump has been lobbying lawmakers on expanding the credit, hosting both Republicans and Democrats for private dinners at her Kalorama home and visiting a handful of Republicans on Capitol Hill.

She’s wooed social conservatives to the cause by finding common ground with stalwarts like Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist in their quest to support families, and she even partnered with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to hammer out the policy details. Indeed, much of her thinking on the expansion of the credit was informed by a proposal that Sens. Rubio and Mike Lee (R-Utah) put forth in 2015.

Yet all of this activity wasn’t enough to inspire House Republican tax-writers to take up the policy details that Trump favored and expand the credit to over $2,000, as she had advocated for in private meetings.

Instead, House lawmakers stuck to a plan that more closely mirrors the House Republican tax blueprint of 2016 – unveiled under House Speaker Paul Ryan’s leadership.

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The Senate has yet to unveil its tax bill, which may include the version of the child tax credit expansion Trump has been pushing.

Trump had been advocating for doubling the child tax credit to at least $2,000. The Rubio and Lee version, from which she got much of her inspiration, would have increased it to $2,500 per child and made it partially refundable.

It also would have delivered a more generous credit on a more frequent basis by reducing the amount of payroll taxes paid by eligible parents – effectively giving them more money in each paycheck instead of simply delivering the credit once a year at tax time.

A White House official said the administration was heartened by the inclusion of a child tax credit expansion and optimistic about passing a tax overhaul.

“We are excited that this bill is a real middle class tax cut, are encouraged by the expansion of the child tax credit, the preservation of the child independent care credit, respect the process and as the President said: ‘We are just getting started, and there is much work left to do,’” the official said. “Cabinet members and senior officials from the administration including Ivanka will be hitting the road in the coming weeks to continue to highlight how comprehensive tax reform will help working families.”

Sens. Rubio and Lee issued a joint statement, saying that they continued to hope for a more generous version of the credit.

“The best way to provide real relief to working families is through a straightforward, significant, and permanent expansion of the child tax credit,” the statement said. “We wish the House draft had done more on this front—preferably doubling the credit to $2,000 per child and expanding its applicability to payroll taxes. We look forward to working with our colleagues to make sure working families are moved to the front of the line in the Senate bill."

Under the new House tax bill, the credit would increase from $1,000 to $1,600 per child – with the first $1,000 refundable. That $1,000 amount would be indexed for inflation, and a greater swath of Americans could take advantage of it because the bill raises the income thresholds.

Right now, families with children under 17 can take advantage of the credit – though it phases out for couples who earn more than $110,000 and single parents who earn more than $75,000.

Expanding the child tax credit has historically earned bipartisan support. It was first introduced by President Bill Clinton and then last expanded under President George W. Bush.

