House approved funding package in two parts yesterday. The chamber approved  the national security package by a vote of 280-138 and the domestic agencies’ package by a vote 297-120. The deal eliminates three health care related taxes on medical devices, health insurers and high-cost “Cadillac” insurance plans, but extends dozens of tax credits and incentives for bio-diesel producers, brewers, distillers and others. Repeal of the three health care related taxes will mean a loss of  $373.3 billion in revenue over ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Total revenue loss over that time will be $426.3 billion.

The House has also fast-tracked the USMCA. The House Ways & Means Committee marked up the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s implementing legislation yesterday, setting the measure up for a floor vote in the House tomorrow. Democrats and Republicans in the House will each have one hour for debate over the legislation, and will consider no amendments.

The child tax credit: Not available to those who need it most? The New York Times takes a close look at the child tax credit. Enacted in 1997 as a tax cut, it evolved into an anti-poverty program. But over one-third of children don’t receive it because their parents earn too little. TPC’s Elaine Maag notes that of the $73 billion of increased spending on the credit due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 39 percent went to families in the top quintile and 2 percent to those at the bottom.

Another whistleblower: Mormon Church misled members on $100 billion investment fund. The Washington Post reports that a former investment manager has written to the IRS alleging that the church has stockpiled funds intended to be used for charitable purposes and has used tax-exempt donations to support two businesses. The whistleblower, a Mormon named David Nielsen who had worked at the Church’s investment division as a senior portfolio manager, urges the IRS to strip the nonprofit of its tax-exempt status. He also alleges that the investment division could owe billions in taxes. 

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