Press Releases

(As prepared for delivery)

Republicans have wasted the last sixteen months on chaos, conspiracies, and cuts, only to end up back where they always do: cutting taxes for their wealthy and well-connected friends. I’ve been around long enough to know that the lifecycle of Republican governing goes as follows: cut taxes for special interests and the top 1% and pay for it by slashing American workers’ hard-earned Social Security and Medicare benefits.

In the last three decades, Republicans have skyrocketed the deficit with trillions in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, always with the same result: the top 1% benefits while nothing trickles down for workers. 

In 2017, Ways and Means Democrats saw the GOP corporate tax giveaway for what it was: a scam. We knew that their Tax Scam would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and well-connected. We knew that it wouldn’t pay for itself. We knew that big corporations, not their workers, would feel the most benefit. Six years since the GOP Tax Scam was signed into law, we’ve been proven right on every count. It didn’t pay for itself, it didn’t increase revenue, and it didn’t increase wages.

A recent study whose authors included JCT economists—let that sink in—found that ALL of the corporate gains from TCJA went to shareholders and high-paid executives, with absolutely nothing flowing to workers. 56 percent of the tax cuts enriched shareholders, and the remaining 44 percent lined the pockets of execs. Zero percent went to workers. ZERO!

Democrats took a different path, and now our economy is the strongest in the world. America’s economic boom continues to defy expectations: 15 million jobs created since President Biden took office, wages and wealth on the rise, and consumer confidence reaching multi-year highs. This is no accident – our investments in America’s workers and families have powered this record growth: new jobs in clean energy and manufacturing, lower health care and energy costs, and holding wealthy tax evaders accountable.

We have proof that when you use the tax code to invest in those who need it most, we all benefit. Workers, families, and our communities must come first. In the words of President Biden, “it grows the economy, hurts nobody.”  And our workers aren’t asking for much—just a fair shot. To unlock the fullest potential of American workers, they need basic workplace supports because if it’s the road that gets you to work, it’s the child care that keeps you there and the paid leave that keeps you employed. What if we invested in our children the way Republicans invest in top executives?

There are 20 years of data showing trickle-down economics doesn’t work, yet today will still be a whole lot of revisionist history and wishful thinking on the singular largest failure of fiscal policy in recent memory. If workers and the middle class are actually your priorities, putting them ahead of big corporations and billionaires is the only way.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.