On the recordNovember 16, 2017
This is not the American Dream tax plan. This is the American nightmare, a tax scam of the worst proportion. With over 8,000 of my constituents last evening on a teleconference town hall meeting, overwhelmingly they disagreed with a tax plan that cuts Medicare or Medicaid to finance tax cuts, eliminates the mortgage tax deduction, so that those who are suffering from Hurricane Harvey, trying to rebuild their lives, seeking a new home cannot, in fact, deduct their mortgage. The same thing with the 200,000 Texans who are going to pay more because we are eliminating the deduction for State and local taxes, and eliminating deductions for student loans, casualty losses; by next year, $25 billion in Social Security cuts. My seniors on the phone last night asked me about those cuts. They asked me about the medical expenses cuts for seniors. All of that is eliminated. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a sample of tele-townhall survey questions and answers Tax Tele-Townhall Survey Questions and Answers (1) Do you agree that a tax bill should cut tax at the expense of Medicaid and Medicare? 95 percent said no. (2) The current tax reform bill will eliminate the tax deduction for student loan interest and the lifetime learning credit. Do you support the elimination of these tax credits? 91 percent said no. (3) The current tax code allows homeowners to deduct interest on mortgages.…
