by Bob Gatty.
President Trump and Republicans in Congress are pushing through a federal budget resolution designed to provide the money needed to support the new tax reform package they say will provide the biggest tax cut in the nation’s history.
The problem is that it gives the shaft to lower and middle-income Americans, especially the poor and the elderly, cutting $1.5 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid and slashing medical research while paving the way for unconscionable tax cuts for the super-rich — like Trump and most members of his cabinet.
The graphic displayed here from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) illustrates the guts of what this budget will do. While Democrats fought against it, the GOP-controlled Senate passed it Thursday night, the House of Representatives will soon follow, and Trump will sign it with much ballyhoo. Then they will be off and running with their tax reform bill next on the agenda.
By passing the budget resolution, which opens the door to expanding the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years once the final budget is passed, Republicans will be able to use a procedural maneuver to pass the tax cut bill in the Senate with 50 or more votes, eliminating the need for Democratic support. And that tax cut bill could add an additional $6 trillion to the deficit, according to estimates.
What happened to the Republican party being the party of fiscal restraint?
What happened to the dogma that for every penny spent, a penny had to be cut?All of this is cloaked in the phony Trumpian message that the middle class will take home thousands more every year as a result of his tax cut, when in reality some taxpayers may actually pay more and the rest of us will get peanuts, while the gazillionnaires save billions – just the people who need it.
Thanks, Republicans. Thanks, Trump. You’re fulfilling your promise to enact tax reform, which you never really defined during the election campaign, so your gullible supporters believed you. Problem is, you lied. You’re the ones who will get even richer while everybody else gets the shaft.
Make a difference by calling your representatives!
Senator Lindsey Graham – (202)224-5972
Senator Tim Scott – (202)224-6121
Main number for House is (202)224-3121 – enter your zip code and you’ll be connected to your House Representative.
