This statement can be attributed to Olivia Golden, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)’s Executive Director

December 20, 2017, Washington, D.C.—In near-party-line votes yesterday and today, both the U.S. House and Senate approved the Republican party’s radical changes to our tax system that will award massive tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations while virtually ignoring the needs of everyday families. By 2027, even the scant cuts for moderate income taxpayers will expire, and every income group below $75,000 will, on average, see their taxes rise. The broad package of tax cuts and new loopholes will add $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit, leading the way to deep cuts to programs that promote economic opportunity, such as Medicaid, nutrition assistance, postsecondary financial aid, and public education, as well as those that meet our commitment to seniors, such as Social Security and Medicare.

The bill also eliminates the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which will result in the loss of health insurance coverage for an estimated 13 million people, destabilize the individual health insurance market, and cause individual market premiums to increase by 10 percent. Moreover, the new tax system will take away the child tax credit from about 1 million children in immigrant families.

Republicans are already pivoting to so-called “welfare reform” as their next crusade. Just as “tax reform” turned out to be tax cuts for the wealthy, “welfare reform” is simply going to be about cutting families of modest means off from the supports they need to go to work, care for their children, and make ends meet.

Throughout the extraordinarily rushed process, Congressional Republicans insisted that the bill would pay for itself, despite study after study by nonpartisan organizations contradicting this assertion. CLASP—and many other anti-poverty and social justice organizations—will hold Congress to account. We are committed to fighting for everyday families and against plans by President Trump and Congressional Republicans to undermine the economic security of hardworking people.