Any future tax breaks for big corporations must also come with restarting monthly checks to parents, 58 members of Congress say

• In a letter, 58 members of Congress said any corporate tax breaks should be coupled with extended credits for families.
• The expanded Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit both drastically decreased poverty during the pandemic.

As Congress careens towards the end of the year, some members have a demand: No corporate tax breaks unless anti-poverty and family support measures are reupped.

In a letter led by Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Jimmy Gomez, 58 members of Congress called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer not to consider any end of year legislation with corporate tax breaks unless there is also "commensurate support and relief" for families and workers.

That includes bringing back more generous monthly Child Tax Credit checks and extending the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, a suite of new tax measures that drastically reduced poverty after being included in President Joe Biden's initial stimulus package.

The first round of CTC checks alone — under which parents could receive up to $300 a month per child — lifted 3 million children out of poverty. The EITC, which targets lower-income Americans, was expanded to make childless adults eligible for up to a nearly $7,000 tax break. However, Congress failed to renew the child tax credit when negotiations over the Build Back Better Act stalled, leaving some families struggling after the monthly checks ended in December 2021.

"While this Congress has delivered on many priorities, we have unfortunately been unable to continue some of the essential programs like the CTC that families still desperately need. As the Fed continues to raise interest rates, it is also pinching many families on housing costs including rising rental rates," the letter said, referring to the Federal Reserve's rate hikes meant to cool inflated prices.

"That means we must be laser focused on ensuring we continue our work to show that Democrats can deliver for children and families before the end of the year by extending two of the Biden era's most effective programs for reducing poverty and helping families meet their basic needs."

Democrats are still mulling what they want to do — and what they're able to do — in their last month of holding both chambers of Congress. The 58 members signing on to the letter want expansions to credits to come before January.

One tax measure of particular interest as the year ends is a restructuring of credits for research and development. Under President Donald Trump's 2017 tax law, a change that wouldn't allow companies to deduct those expnses every year and would increase revenue was meant to kick in by 2022. As part of the Build Back Better Act, the House proposed delaying that measure's start for four years — which would have amounted to an estimated $213 billion blow to revenue over the next ten years while benefiting large corporations.

The signatories urged that any potential delay of that measure be coupled with expansions of both CTC and EITC, something that some Senate Democrats have previously signaled they might be open to.

"I cannot imagine the Senate will give big tax breaks to big companies and to wealthy people without taking care of kids first," Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio told Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig in September.