Five of the six Alabama Republicans in the U.S. House voted against a $75 billion tax bill that that would expand the federal child tax-credit, with at least three citing concerns over allowing undocumented immigrants with U.S.-born citizens access to the tax break.

“Carl votes against giving illegal immigrants free handouts,” screamed a headline from a press release by U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile.

“Rep. Barry Moore opposes bipartisan tax deal with illegal immigrant loophole,” U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, stated in another press statement.

Moore and Carl are engaged in a primary battle ahead of the March 5 election in the highly-conservative 1st congressional district.

“The last thing we should be doing at a time when our borders are wide open is giving handouts to illegal immigrants,” Carl said in a statement. “While there are good things in this bill, I simply will not vote for anything to encourage or reward illegal immigration.”

Said Moore, “This legislation works against taxpayers by increasing the deficit by $155 billion while we are $34 trillion in debt and providing a loophole for illegal immigrants to receive the child tax credit.”

Also voting against the measure, which won a 357-70 bipartisan vote in the House Wednesday, were Reps. Robert Aderholt, R-Hayleyville; Mike Rogers, R-Saks; and Gary Palmer, R-Hoover. Voting in support were Republican Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, and Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham.

“I have consistently supported tax reform legislation reducing the burden on Alabama families and small businesses,” said Palmer, who facing Republicans Ken McFeeters and Gerrick Wilkins during the March 5 primary. “However, a bill that increases incentives to work less or not at all, and with no specific provisions preventing illegal aliens from receiving taxpayer dollars via an expanded child tax credit, could never earn my support. This type of legislation will entice even more people to break our immigration laws and enter the country illegally.”

Aderholt said the legislation lacked oversight “to prevent (the tax credits) from landing in the pockets of 6.45 million” undocumented immigrants who “have entered the country” since the 2020 election.

“Alabamians deserve better than to provide this taxpayer-funded benefit to those who have chosen to come to this country illegally,” he said.

Unrelated issues

At least one expert on the matter says the legislation has no so-called “loophole” for undocumented immigrants and does nothing to change the requirement that families receiving the child tax credit must provide a Social Security number for their children, which was included in former President Donald Trump’s tax cut legislation in 2017.

Parents are not required to have a Social Security number, although they need an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to claim a benefit for their children.

The overall legislation is being credited for expanding the child tax credit and giving more money to low-income families.

“After many years of trying, Congressional Republicans succeeded in adding a (social security number) requirement for any child claim but still allowed ITINs for parents as part of the Trump tax cuts,” said Joshua McCabe, director of social policy at the Niskanen Center, a libertarian think tank based in Washington, D.C. “This was done under a Republican trifecta so it was as far as they could take it with a Republican majority.”

He added, “Fast forward to today where many Republicans are frustrated about the border crisis and a failure to find compromise on immigration.”

McCabe said the 2017 changes were “quite effective” in reducing undocumented immigrants accessing federal tax breaks. He said there is no indication how adding additional requirements would affect the overall bill, but “some hardline conservative shave doubled down on the issue over the past couple of weeks.”

“My view is they are asking tax policy to solve immigration policy problems, which is ill-equipped to deal with and they need to find an immigration fix if they’re truly interested in addressing the crisis,” McCabe said.

Tornado victims

Forty-seven Republicans and 23 Democrats voted against the bill. Among the GOP, 167 voted in support of it, while 188 Democrats were supportive in a vote that national news outlets are heralding as a rare moment of bipartisanship in a gridlocked Congress.

Sewell, in a statement, said the child tax credit expansion – which provides a boost for low-income families with more than one child – would assist 16 million children in the U.S., and 280,000 in Alabama.

The package also provides a boost to the low-income housing tax credit, ends double taxation on U.S. companies operating in Taiwan, allow businesses to write off more of their research and development expenses, and provide tax relief to natural disaster victims.

Sewell said the legislation will help the victims of the Jan. 12, 2023, storms in Greene, Hale, Sumter, and Dallas counties.

“The Child Tax Credit is among the most effective anti-poverty programs in the nation and thanks to this compromise, it will again provide much needed assistance to Alabama families,” Sewell said. “While this legislation as a whole does not go as far as it could, it represents important progress in the fight against child poverty and provides critical tax relief to families in Selma and the Black Belt as they rebuild from last year’s tornado.”

Strong did not provide a statement.

The legislation faces hurdles in the Senate, where some Republicans reportedly said they have concerns about handing a policy win over to the Biden Administration during a presidential campaign. Alabama’s two Republican Senators, Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, did not respond to an immediate request for comment.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, according to NBC News, said that passing a bill that “makes the president look good” could also hamper the Congress’ ability to extend the 2017 tax cuts under Trump.