Peach State Piffle

We find little to support this claim. The DSCC offers a list of votes in which we can see no clear example of Chambliss opposing a no-strings-attached tax cut for middle-income taxpayers.

The closest is Chambliss' opposition to a Democratic measure in 2003 that would have given additional tax benefits to families making less than $10,500 a year. But those families were well under the poverty level, and we doubt that many would consider them "middle class." The measure would have lowered the income threshold for the child tax credit from $10,500 to $5,000.

Other supposed "middle-class" cuts opposed by Chambliss were either packaged with tax increases or came with conditions. Twobills mainly offered tax credits and incentives for renewable energy, and they came packaged with tax increases on hedge fund managers and multinational corporations. The DSCC cites a vote Chambliss cast in July 2003 against legislation to extend child tax credits to those earning between $10,500 and $26,650 a year. But Chambliss had voted for extending the tax credits a month earlier. The vote DSCC cited amounted to political party wrangling, with Democrats supporting the measure and Republicans voting against it. By late September, disagreements between parties and the two houses of Congress had been resolved, and the Senate approved a bill to extend the child tax credits, with Chambliss voting in favor.

Chambliss also opposed making an increase in the child tax credit retroactive; the bill would have paid for the tax benefit by delaying a reduction in the top marginal tax rate. And he voted against another 2003 bill to give a tax credit to family caregivers, while limiting the tax exclusion of dividends. Both failed along party lines.

Republished with permission from factcheck.org.

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