Secretary Mnuchin, thank you for joining us today.
A budget is a reflection of one’s values - and President Trump’s budget is no exception. As we have seen time and time again, the Trump Administration has focused on the needs of the wealthy and well-connected instead of middle-class families. From attacking Americans’ healthcare and Social Security to dismantling protections for struggling families, President Trump has reminded us once again of his values and who he is really looking out for as president. For example, the Trump budget cuts Medicare by over $500 billion, jeopardizing this important program for older Americans.
We saw these same priorities last year when President Trump and the Republicans rammed through a $2.3 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and corporate America. While Republicans claim that their bill will benefit average Americans, the evidence is clear - 83% of the benefit will go directly to those at the very top.
Let’s be clear - the Republicans priority with their tax legislation is the wealthy and corporations and not the middle-class. While big companies and the most well-off and well-connected reap massive benefits, tens of thousands of workers are being laid off and middle-class families are not seeing the gains Republicans promised.
I saw this myself back home in Massachusetts when the legislation first passed. The Republicans’ tax bill limits the SALT deduction to $10,000. However, the bill allowed for taxpayers to pre-pay their 2018 property taxes before the close of 2017.
In Massachusetts, there was a tremendous amount of interest in doing this and we saw an influx of lines at city halls across the state. In fact, in an attempt to help my constituents find their way through a maze of confusion, I asked the IRS to issue guidance to help taxpayers make these payments.
However, instead of issuing taxpayer-friendly guidance, the IRS issued guidance that complicated matters further and even limited middle-class family’s ability to take advantage of this tax benefit. That’s certainly not putting the middle-class first in my book.
The Republican tax law also is fiscally irresponsible. The law adds at least $2.3 trillion to the nation’s debt while giving massive tax cuts to big corporations. Republicans’ claim that these massive corporate tax cuts will pay for themselves.
However, tax cuts don’t pay for themselves, you pay for them. The White House budget director essentially admitted that himself yesterday. And to pay for these corporate handouts, Speaker Ryan and the Trump budget are clear in their intentions to cut funding for programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, vital benefits that hardworking Americans have paid into and earned.
We can do better. Instead of cutting programs that middle-class families rely on, I call on my Republican colleagues to work with us on a bipartisan basis to fix problems impacting working families.
One example would be to work together to address the multiemployer pension crisis. These American workers planned for their retirement and year after year chose to contribute to their pensions instead of taking a wage increase. Then after working for 30 plus years as ironworkers, truck drivers, and autoworkers, their planned retirements were taken away from them. And taken away at a time when they no longer have time to prepare for retirement because they’re already in retirement.
We need to help these Americans whose retirements are at risk by no fault of their own. This is a bipartisan issue and I’m hopeful that the new Joint Select Committee on Solvency of the Multiemployer Pension Plans will be successful in developing solutions. Secretary Mnuchin, I also ask the Administration to help us with these efforts.
Our goal with our work on this committee should be to always put working families first and act together to create opportunities for the middle class. Thank you.
