On the recordNovember 30, 2017
I thank the Presiding Officer for the recognition. Mr. President, the Republicans' tax bill is a disaster for the American people. It would give the ultrawealthy a tax cut and make middle-class families pay for it. I can't tell you how strongly I am opposed to it. We have heard a lot from the President and the Republicans about how their tax cuts will be a rising tide to lift all boats, but this claim just doesn't hold water. Look carefully. On top of $1.5 trillion in new deficits, they are hiding where more than $5 trillion of cuts over the next 10 years will come from and just who will actually benefit. The Republican budget would force steep cuts in healthcare, education, and other programs that working and middle-class families rely on. It is a terrible plan for my home State of New Mexico, where a lot of families already have a hard time getting by. Plain and simple, the Republicans' plan is a massive redistribution of wealth. Listen to who it is taking money from and where they are giving it to. It would take money from working families, seniors, children, the sick and disabled, rural families, and the poor, and give it to the very top 1 percent. They propose it at a time when the gap between the very rich and everyone else is already growing. We now have greater income inequality in the United States than at the height of the Gilded Age over 100 years ago. I want to highlight for my colleagues across the aisle another big problem with the Republicans' bill.…
