Senate Rejects Bipartisan Tax Deal

The legislation would have restored prized tax breaks for businesses and expanded the child tax credit. It had passed the House with broad bipartisan support.

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Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader, brought the bill up for a procedural vote as Democrats saw an opportunity to score political points in an election year.

The Senate rejected a bill on Thursday that would have restored lapsed tax breaks for businesses and expanded the child tax credit, as many Republicans in the chamber lined up against the bipartisan deal in hopes of gaining an advantage in bigger tax legislation expected next year.

The roughly $80 billion bill had seemed to have everything. It soared through the House earlier this year with broad bipartisan support, a rare feat. Business groups loved it and hoped Congress would again allow companies to immediately deduct the full cost of capital investments and research expenses from their tax bills. And anti-poverty activists cheered its expansion of federal support for parents with children.

But the effort — spearheaded by Representative Jason Smith, Republican of Missouri and the Ways and Means Committee chairman, and Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and the Finance Committee chairman — still ran aground in the Senate. Republicans senators worried that the bill’s expansion of the child tax credit veered into creating a new welfare program, stalling the legislation.

Though Republican opposition doomed the bill’s fate months ago, Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader, brought it up for a procedural vote on Thursday. The vote failed 48 to 44, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Three Republicans joined Democrats in favor of the bill, while two independents who caucus with Democrats — Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — opposed it. Mr. Schumer also ultimately voted against the bill, a decision that allows him to potentially bring it back up for another vote.

With the procedural vote, top Democrats saw an opportunity to score political points in an election year. They hammered Republicans for opposing changes that would give more low-income families access to the child tax credit and make it more valuable for parents with multiple children.

Senator JD Vance, an Ohio Republican and the party’s vice-presidential nominee, has recently come under fire for past comments criticizing “childless cat ladies.” While Mr. Vance has walked back some of those comments, he has continued to argue that Democrats have pursued anti-family policies.

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