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Bonamici: GOP Tax Plan is Reprehensible

December 19, 2017

Congresswoman Votes Against Partisan Plan that Will Exacerbate Income Inequality

WASHINGTON, DC [12/19/17] – Today Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) issued the following statement after voting against H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

"This partisan tax plan will increase taxes on millions of families and workers while delivering enormous, unnecessary benefits and loopholes to wealthy corporations and billionaires," said Congresswoman Bonamici. "It is reprehensible to increase the debt by at least one trillion dollars to give tax cuts to successful corporations and the wealthiest in our country while asking hard-working Americans to do more with less as costs rise and wages remain stagnant. This bill will exacerbate income inequality in our country at a time when it is rising and threatening our nation's prosperity. And making things even worse, this debt-ballooning plan paves the way for future cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security – life-saving programs that provide seniors with financial security and low-income and disabled people with access to health care.

"Capping the federal deduction for state and local taxes will make it harder for states and cities to fund education, transportation, infrastructure, public safety, affordable housing, and other services vital to our communities. Public education is already underfunded, and limiting this commonsense deduction would further shrink available resources and hurt families struggling to get ahead. I am deeply concerned about the long-term cost of this reckless tax plan to America's children and grandchildren.

Bonamici continued, "In addition to being bad policy, this was also a bad process. The Republicans created this partisan plan and pushed it through rapidly with no hearings and with little opportunity for debate, analysis, or public input. This is a tremendous lost opportunity; working together we could have accomplished tax reform that would lift people out of poverty, level the playing field, and stimulate job growth. Additionally, this Conference Report we voted on today includes many dangerous provisions with little if any relation to the tax code. The bill will undermine the Affordable Care Act by essentially ending the individual mandate, which will mean about 13 million fewer people with insurance and likely rate increases for everyone. It also allows drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a priceless landscape that should remain protected. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to see this bill for what it is: an attack on working families and a catalyst for exacerbating income inequality."

Bonamici voted against the Conference Report today, and previously voted against a similar bill in the House.