White House: Trump Working With Rubio on Child Tax Credit Issue

President Donald Trump has worked with Sen. Marco Rubio to come up with more money for a child tax credit, the main sticking point keeping the Florida Republican from being a solid yes on pending tax reform legislation, deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said Friday.

"The president has worked with Sen. Rubio to actually double what they had started out," Gidley told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.

"The number was a lot lower, and it's gotten a lot higher because of the talks we had with Sen. Rubio."

On Thursday, Rubio announced he would vote against the $1.5 trillion bill, unless the negotiators for the House and Senate expand a tax credit that lower-income Americans can claim for their children.

The co-sponsor of the change, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, remains undecided on the overall bill, and his spokesman, Conn Carroll, said Thursday he's still pushing to make the child tax credit as large as it can be.

"We hope this tax bill actually gets to the president's desk because it is largest tax decrease, tax cut we have seen in about 30 years, which is extremely exciting for us," Gidley said Friday. "We would expect that most Republicans get on board with actually giving people their own money to keep."

However, he said he doesn't know why Lee is holding back on his decision.

"Obviously, we are trying to get this through before Christmas," said Gidley. This tax bill does that obviously the president's three main areas of concern were the tax code was just too big. It was too bulky, it was too confusing. That's been addressed in this bill.

"We wanted tax cuts for the middle class, the president demanded that he has got that and also bringing down the corporate tax rate. Something else the president has demanded. All those things are in the bill and we hope to get the bill to the president's desk as soon as possible."

• Rubio Warns He will Oppose Tax Plan Unless It Includes Child Credit Expansion
• Trump Touts Tax Cuts