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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01), who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, opposed the Ryan-McConnell tax bill today on the House floor because it would increase taxes on 36 million middle-class families. Republicans still passed the bill without a single Democrat supporting the measure.

“In this Ryan-McConnell tax bill, Republicans are touting the largest set of corporate tax cuts in our country’s history. They’re raving that their corporate cuts will create jobs, even though we know that trickle-down economics has never worked and never will. Instead of bringing Democrats and the public into the process, Republicans have made the most cynical tradeoffs, only hurting people who need help the most,” DelBene said ahead of the vote. Video can be found HERE. “Bottom line, this bill hurts Americans from cradle to retirement.”

The Republican bill would add $1.5 trillion to the deficit, paid for on the backs of workers, seniors and future generations. It would eliminate key provisions that have provided relief to American families for years, such as the medical expense deduction, the student loan interest deduction and teacher expense deduction. It would also repeal the state and local sales tax deduction and limit the mortgage interest and property tax deductions that make home ownership possible for countless families across the country.

During committee markup, DelBene offered amendments to protect middle-class families from tax hikes that would make housing and healthcare among other things more costly, but Republicans blocked them all. Her questioning on the unfairness of corporations being able to continue to use deductions eliminated for individuals under the plan went viral.

According to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation and Center for Tax Policy, the Ryan-McConnell bill will increase taxes on 36 million middle-class households and nearly 50 percent of the tax cuts go to the wealthiest 1 percent.

The House Ways and Means Committee passed the Republican tax bill out of committee along party lines after just four days of markup and less than a week of having the bill text available to committee members and the public. The last time Congress passed a major tax overhaul in 1986, the committee underwent a year-long review of tax reform proposals, with 30 days of public hearings and a 26 day markup of legislative text. Senate Republicans are working on their bill, which would also increase taxes on 20 million middle-class Americans.

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