“Today the Republicans doubled down on their tax scam, giving corporations and the wealthy a second massive tax break in less than nine months, sticking hard-working American families with the bill.  The package of bills forced through the House by Republicans this week will make hundreds of billions of dollars in temporary tax cuts passed last December permanent, ballooning our deficit and moving us further away from an economy that works for everyone.

“What’s worse is that Republicans have made it clear that they plan to pay for this scam with devastating cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. In June 2018, Republicans released the first federal budget since passing the initial tax bill late last year. Citing the growing debt and deficit, which have been dramatically exacerbated by passage of their tax bill, the Republicans’ budget proposed drastic cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. In passing another round of tax cuts for the wealthy, this week’s tax package will not only further harm our nation’s finances, it will damage programs that middle-class Americans rely on, and further increase already historic levels of inequality.

“Congress and the American people need to have an honest debate about our budget and national finances when debating tax policies. Improvements to federal tax policy should also promote innovation, help working families, and increase economic vitality, while bringing in enough revenue to draw down the deficit. At a time when the richest one percent of Americans own 40 percent of all the wealth in the country and we are over $20 trillion in debt, it was terrible economic and fiscal policy for Republicans in Congress and President Trump to enact a $2 trillion tax cut that gave most of its benefits to the richest people and the largest corporations. To expand that abhorrent fiscal policy now, by permanently authorizing tax cuts, will shift even more wealth to the richest Americans, rigging our economy further in favor of rich CEOs and their stockholders, at the expense of working families.”