A couple of weeks ago, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) endorsed an increase in child tax credits to a maximum of $5,000 per child, declaring that “President Trump has been on record for a long time, supporting a bigger child tax credit.”

Although the credit was originally designed to reduce child poverty, and currently phases out for married couples earning more than $400,000, Vance wants the federal government to extend it to all eligible parents, including millionaires and billionaires.

Trump has not, in fact, been a visible and vocal advocate of bigger child tax credits. More often than not, congressional Republicans have opposed such increases, whereas Democrats have made sizable child tax credits a high priority.

The Trump administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 — which was not supported by any Democrats in Congress — cut individual, corporate and estate taxes, and increased the maximum child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000 for each child under age 17. Families with combined incomes of $400,000 became eligible for the benefit, up from $150,000. Very poor families, for whom the maximum child tax credit refund exceeded the taxes owed, could not receive more than $1,400 per child. And part of the child tax credit increase was offset by a repeal of exemptions for dependents.

As he signed his tax cut bill at the........

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