Schumer Remarks at Stakeout on the GOP Tax Bill

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today released the following statement regarding the vote on the GOP Tax Bill:

I’m proud to be joined by my colleagues Senators Wyden; ranking member of finance, Senator Murray; ranking member of HELP, and Senator Sanders; ranking member of budget.  Now, our Republican colleagues have indicated they intend to schedule votes later today on their final tax bill. They will rue the day they did it.

Given the bill’s substance, it’s no surprise they’re in such a rush. 11th hour backroom deals have managed to only make their bad bill even worse.  They don’t want to discuss it, they don’t want to have sunlight shed on it, they don’t want anyone to know what’s in it because it is so, so bad and the public knows it. 

It’s a bill that’s cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations and as long as it cuts taxes so heavily on the wealthiest Americans, it should be so that not one middle class person should see a tax increase.

But their bill includes taxes on lots of middle class people. There’s no reason a single family should pay more when every single corporation pays.  

How can Republicans defend this? The only people who want it are their very wealthy paymasters who seem to run the Republican Party these days and they’re running it into the ground. 

The longer the bill sees the light of day, the more the American people find to dislike.

A new poll this morning from CNN found a majority of Americans against this bill. Why? 

The bill provides crumbs and tax hikes for middle-class families in this country and a Christmas gift to major corporations and billionaire investors.

So let me be clear: This tax bill will be an anchor around the ankles of every Republican. If they haven’t learned it yet, they are going to learn it next November.

Republicans will rue the day they passed this bill and the American people will never let them forget it.

What has been sold as a job creator and wage booster will, of course, do little of either, as companies are already initiating stock buybacks worth hundreds of millions of dollars instead of hiring more workers and raising wages.

Ultimately, the Republicans have taken what they call a “once in a generation” opportunity on tax reform and squandered it on corporate welfare and tax cuts for the rich.

According to the Tax Policy Center, the top 1% of earners in our country get 83% of the benefits. The top 1% get 83% of the benefits. What about the other 99% of us?

The raw numbers are staggering. It is an indictment of the Republican tax plan. It is an indictment of where the Republican Party is headed: into the arms of their billionaire paymasters.

The numbers reveal what this bill truly is – a tax scam that will rob middle-class families to pay for corporate tax breaks.