Hoyer Floor Remarks Opposing the GOP Tax Scam Conference Report
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Press Release
For Immediate Release:
December 19, 2017
Contact Info:
Mariel Saez 202-225-3130
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks on the House Floor today in opposition to Republicans’ conference report on the GOP tax scam. Below is a video and a transcript of his remarks:
“Mr. Speaker, history will indeed remember this vote. Future generations of Americans will remember who cast their votes to raise taxes on 86 million middle-class households and heap another $1.5 trillion in deficits onto our children and to our grandchildren. They will remember who cast their votes for a plan that gives 83% of its benefits to 1% of the American people. They will remember that President Trump promised that the middle class would get a tax cut and that wealthy individuals like him would not, before turning his back on that promise. They will remember those who cast their votes to kick 13 million Americans off their health insurance coverage. And they will remember those who acted with the full knowledge that their votes would trigger a $25 billion cut in Medicare. I know you said you’re going to waive it, which will simply add $25 billion more to the deficit.
“But posterity will also remember those who stood up in the face of this dangerous and partisan bill and said: ‘No.’ And those of us who vote against it are doing so not because we oppose tax reform. On the contrary, we recognize, as most Americans do, that this bill is not tax reform. It is a tax giveaway to those who don’t need our help, paid for by those who do. This is reckless and dangerous deficit spending at its worst.
“In 1986, Democrats and Republicans worked together in good faith and over many months in an open, transparent, and regular order process to craft real, bipartisan tax reform that helped the middle class without adding a dime to the deficit. Not a single dime.
“This has not been an open process. This has not been bipartisan. This has not been transparent or through regular order.
“This raises taxes, as I said, on 86 million middle-class Americans, who will pay more taxes ten years from now than they do today. This gives 83% of the tax cuts to the top 1% - not the $59,000-family that Paul Ryan talked about, but to those families making over $900,000 a year. And this bill adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit. This is not tax reform.
“So Republicans may pat themselves on the back in the coming days for having finally passed something out of Congress. Unfortunately, it’s a bad thing. I urge them to remember that this vote may be the most consequential in their careers – not positively.
“I say to my friends across the aisle: stand up and say ‘no’ with us, and commit to start working on a product all Members of this chamber can be proud of, as was the case in 1986. That’s what Ronald Reagan did. In 1986, Reagan did not go down this reckless and irresponsible path.
“Stand up for the principles you used to espouse but are now about to abandon. Stand up for fiscal responsibility. Stand up for the middle-class. Stand up for what the American people hope we would do. This is not it.”
“Mr. Speaker, history will indeed remember this vote. Future generations of Americans will remember who cast their votes to raise taxes on 86 million middle-class households and heap another $1.5 trillion in deficits onto our children and to our grandchildren. They will remember who cast their votes for a plan that gives 83% of its benefits to 1% of the American people. They will remember that President Trump promised that the middle class would get a tax cut and that wealthy individuals like him would not, before turning his back on that promise. They will remember those who cast their votes to kick 13 million Americans off their health insurance coverage. And they will remember those who acted with the full knowledge that their votes would trigger a $25 billion cut in Medicare. I know you said you’re going to waive it, which will simply add $25 billion more to the deficit.
“But posterity will also remember those who stood up in the face of this dangerous and partisan bill and said: ‘No.’ And those of us who vote against it are doing so not because we oppose tax reform. On the contrary, we recognize, as most Americans do, that this bill is not tax reform. It is a tax giveaway to those who don’t need our help, paid for by those who do. This is reckless and dangerous deficit spending at its worst.
“In 1986, Democrats and Republicans worked together in good faith and over many months in an open, transparent, and regular order process to craft real, bipartisan tax reform that helped the middle class without adding a dime to the deficit. Not a single dime.
“This has not been an open process. This has not been bipartisan. This has not been transparent or through regular order.
“This raises taxes, as I said, on 86 million middle-class Americans, who will pay more taxes ten years from now than they do today. This gives 83% of the tax cuts to the top 1% - not the $59,000-family that Paul Ryan talked about, but to those families making over $900,000 a year. And this bill adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit. This is not tax reform.
“So Republicans may pat themselves on the back in the coming days for having finally passed something out of Congress. Unfortunately, it’s a bad thing. I urge them to remember that this vote may be the most consequential in their careers – not positively.
“I say to my friends across the aisle: stand up and say ‘no’ with us, and commit to start working on a product all Members of this chamber can be proud of, as was the case in 1986. That’s what Ronald Reagan did. In 1986, Reagan did not go down this reckless and irresponsible path.
“Stand up for the principles you used to espouse but are now about to abandon. Stand up for fiscal responsibility. Stand up for the middle-class. Stand up for what the American people hope we would do. This is not it.”