Tax bill protest at the Capitol. Many people being arrested. #tictocnews https://t.co/44jJdRfz5H
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) December 19, 2017
Constituents from all over the country: women, elderly, people with disabilities, students, doctors, people of color, single mothers, LGBTQ, immigrants, fathers all together marching to Congress to tell their representatives to vote NO on the #GOPTaxScam. pic.twitter.com/IlGsR7QVpH
— Popular Democracy (@popdemoc) December 18, 2017
John Cassidy, in the New Yorker:
Grant the Republican Party leaders one thing: their tactics in passing their hugely unpopular tax bill have been consistent—consistently evasive. A few weeks ago, the Senate version of the bill was passed in the middle of the night. This weekend, the final iteration of the legislation was made public on Friday evening—a traditional dumping ground for bad news. The Republicans intend to hold votes on the bill early next week in both houses of Congress, and it seems certain to pass.
It is hardly surprising that Republicans don’t want to give anyone too much time to look closely at their latest handiwork. The final tax bill is the product of a conference committee that was tasked with reconciling the different bills passed in the House and the Senate. Almost eleven hundred pages long, the final bill is just as regressive and fiscally irresponsible as either of the two earlier bills, and it is arguably more so. At its center is a huge tax cut for corporations and unincorporated business partnerships—such as the ones that Donald Trump owns—while arrayed around the edges are all sorts of carve-outs and giveaways to favored industries and interest groups…
As for fairness, that principle was junked a long time ago. The final bill reflects the same principle as the previous two G.O.P. bills: Dom Perignon for the plutocrats, cheap swill for the masses. The bill is also cruel. In abolishing the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to purchase health insurance, it will make individual plans even more costly and more difficult to obtain, especially for sick people. This isn’t just a tax bill. It is a backdoor effort to overturn the principle of universal access to health care.
Tax Bill Protests Open Thread: “A Corrupt, Cruel, Budget-Busting Hairball”Post + Comments (161)