Rep. Diane Black fights for the adoption tax credit… and wins

Pro-life is pro-adoption.

That’s why, when news broke that the new GOP tax plan would eliminate the adoption tax credit for families, pro-lifers across the country, including those in Congress, expressed disapproval for the move.

Because of this, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act yesterday, leaving the adoption tax credit intact. According to The Hill, “an amendment released Thursday from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) retained” the tax credit. “The Senate legislation also preserves the credit,” reports The Hill, which “provides up to $13,570 in tax savings per adopted child.”

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), who has defended pro-life and pro-adoption laws before, issued a statement in support of the tax credit:

We promised a fairer, flatter and simpler tax code, giving middle income families much needed relief from our current code, and we did just that….

I am also profoundly grateful to see that the Adoption Tax Credit is included in the final bill. Adoption has changed my own life and made my family whole, and I am very proud to fight alongside families willing to open their hearts to children in need of a forever home. We can’t change the high cost of adoption overnight, but we can ensure our tax laws provide help to offset that expense….

Rep. Black Speaks in Support of the Adoption Tax Credit

In speaking before the Committee, Black said, “I’ve worked for all of my career… to make sure that every child has a forever family,” adding that “Adoption is a beautiful choice and we should make sure that our laws work for these [adoptive] families and not against them.”

While many families have “room in their homes and room in their hearts” to adopt, says Black, they “may not have room in their budgets” to do so, because of the high cost of adoption (which Black said averages $40,000). The Adoption Tax Credit will help to ease this financial burden for families.

The Hill notes that Black is not alone among pro-life Congress members who are praising the Committee’s decision to retain the tax credit.

Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) called the move “pro-life and pro-family.” Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), a longtime defender of pro-life legislation and chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, issued a statement, saying, “By helping remove financial barriers for families to adopt, Chairman Brady has written an outstandingly holistic pro-life and pro-family bill…. The adoption tax credit has enormous symbolic, practical and humanitarian meaning and purpose, and I am deeply grateful that it’s been preserved in the tax plan and for all of those who acted to preserve it.”