Senate Republicans have passed a Frankenstein's monster of a tax bill, hastily stitched together at the last minute -- so hastily that I doubt any of them had read the almost five hundred pages of giveaways (to the rich) and takeaways (from the poor.) Desperate for a victory, the copy of the bill was delivered to the Senators too late for any careful perusal or even a cursory skimming.
Quoting Elizabeth Warren:
. This 500-page bill is a massive tax giveaway to billionaires and giant
corporations, paid for by America’s working families. It attacks college
students. It sabotages the Affordable Care Act and threatens health care for
millions of Americans. It opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for
drilling in Alaska. And who knows what else is buried in there?
That’s not how you make tax policy, health care policy, or any other policy in
the United States of America.
This Republican-controlled Congress doesn’t work for working families. It works
for corporate lobbyists and campaign donors in backroom deals and 1:30 AM
votes. This is corruption – plain and simple. And this corruption is hollowing
out America’s middle class and tearing down our democracy.
But we cannot – CANNOT – give up. The other side has concentrated money and
concentrated power – but we have our voices and our votes. And there are a lot
more of us than there are of them.
We need to fight harder than ever to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social
Security. When this tax scam causes the national debt to explode because billionaires
and giant corporations don’t pay their fair share, the Republicans will say –
“Sorry!” There’s no money to pay for the things that affect working families.
Remember that when the sequester cuts kicked in during 2013, cancer clinics had
to turn away patients from their chemotherapy treatments – and that was just
fine with the GOP.
The bill still has to be reconciled with the House bill in conference committee and the new version voted on once more. And this is where all of us who care about the future of Medicare and Social Security, the ACA, the future of our National Parks , the future of our children and grandchildren -- to mention just a few of the things at stake -- should redouble our efforts to let our Congresspersons know they WILL be held accountable. Telephone, write, keep after them!
This is not over. The fight continues. It will take 3 Republicans to kill the monster. These 5 are publicly on the fence:
Johnson (WI) 202-224-5323
Corker (TN) 202-224-3344
Flake (AZ) 202-224-4521
Collins (ME) 202-224-2523
Daines (MT) 202-224-2651 And work to get the people responsible for the monster OUT when the time comes!
As the past year has shown, what's done in DC can be undone.