Republicans are celebrating the passage in the U.S. Senate of a tax reform plan that could have historic consequences. The 51-49 vote was held about 2 a.m. Saturday. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed their version of the bill — any differences must be worked out in a conference committee before being sent to President Trump. Trump said on Twitter that he looked forward “to signing a final bill before Christmas.”
Connecticut’s two senators voted with all their Democratic colleagues and one Republican against the bill. They weren’t as celebratory. Both issued statements condemning the bill. Blumenthal said in a press release:
“Americans will remember this day – and the Senate Republican majority will rue it – for the catastrophic scam foisted on the American people in the dead of night. It is a bait and switch, promising a simpler and fairer tax code, and actually making it more complex and unfair…. massive permanent tax cuts go mostly to corporations and the wealthy, while the crumbs to the middle class are small and temporary. It eliminates critical deductions of state and local taxes and casualty losses for home repairs like the crumbling foundation homeowners in Connecticut…. The people of Connecticut are particularly harmed by this malicious, malignant bill. The feeble claim that it will lead to more jobs and economic growth is magical thinking .”
Senator Murphy seemed to echo his colleague’s concern about ‘magical thinking’, tweeting out an image of a unicorn, alleging they were as real as the idea that ‘borrowing money to pay for tax cuts for the rich shrinks the deficit.”
He also issued a more standard statement in a press release, saying
“I voted no because this bill won’t help the people I heard from on my walk across Connecticut. Teachers, manufacturing workers, nurses – they’re the ones who deserve a tax cut, not big corporations or people who are rich already…. This bill jacks up health care premiums, raises taxes for sixty percent of middle income earners, and increases the national debt by over a trillion dollars….This bill, written in haste and passed in the dead of night with absolutely no ability for the American public to look at it, will be a disaster for the economy. It’s not too late for Republicans to go back to the drawing board and work with Democrats to come up with a bipartisan bill that helps the people who really need tax relief.”
Representatives Larson and DeLauro also issued statements. DeLauro said:
“The Senate version of the Republicans’ tax cut bill that passed today suffers from the same defects as the House version. This bill is a giveaway to millionaires, billionaires, and corporate special interests…. It will continue the outsourcing of good paying jobs by allowing corporations to skip paying taxes on profits earned through their outsourcing. That outsourcing drives down wages and salaries here at home….”
Larson said the plan was passed
“…just to achieve a political win…. The red ink from this bill will lead to the fulfillment of the Republican’s ultimate goal of cutting essential programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security…. It will lead to 13 million people losing [health care] coverage and driving premiums up 10 percent year to year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Senate plan, like it’s House counterpart, is a massive redistribution of wealth from donor states like Connecticut that send more money back to the federal government than they receive back in services.”
We’ll have more reaction to the tax reform legislation on the FOX61 News at 10 tonight on WCCT, and at 11 on WTIC.
