Senate Republican Tax Bill Rewards Wealthy Donors and Corporations While Sticking It to the Middle Class

WASHINGTON—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten following the vote on the Senate Republican tax bill:

“President Trump and Senate Republicans threw the middle class under the bus today. They are handing huge tax breaks to their wealthy donors and corporations, at a time of record corporate profits and when the Dow has never been higher, while sticking it to the middle class and working folks, whose wages have been stagnant for decades and who crave basic economic security for their families. Trump and the Republicans are going after public education and services at a time when at least 29 states are still spending less on public schools than they did before the great recession. The old Republican cries against deficits, deficits, deficits are gone; passage of this bill makes it clear Republicans now only care about tax breaks for the rich. And nobody should be surprised if they use the massive deficits created by this bill to justify cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

“That’s why Republican senators rammed this bill through as fast as they could without its final text published until minutes before the vote, without hearings and without real debate. They know the more Americans know about this bill, the more unpopular it will be. That’s because no amount of child care credits or other window dressing can disguise this massive giveaway to the wealthy and corporations, paid for by increasing the deficit and tearing down the building blocks of the American dream by raising healthcare costs; starving public schools and services of resources; and raising taxes on teachers, nurses, firefighters, students and those who just want a fair shot at a middle-class life.

“The winners and losers are clear and the lines are drawn. President Trump and Senate Republicans have shut ‘we the people’ out of our government and broken every populist promise they made to working folks, in order to serve the interests of donors and big corporations.”