Action Alert: Continue Advocacy Around the Tax Bill

from the Center for Public Representation:

Because of technical issues with the Senate-passed bill, the House and Senate have to conference the bill.  That means that every bad thing in either bill is potentially on the table for being included in the final bill.  We expect that most of the conference negotiations will happen behind closed doors and that there will be a single conference meeting where the final bill will be voted on and approved along party lines.  The bill that comes out of conference will have to be voted on by both the House and Senate.

The conference means that we at least have a few more days to keep up the pressure to kill this bill! 

• The House is voting right now ( http://houselive.gov/) on going to conference and the Senate is expected to have its conference vote tomorrow morning.
• House conferees were identified in a tweet this afternoon: NEWS: @SpeakerRyan expected to name the following GOP conferees for tax negotiations: 1. Chairman Kevin Brady (TX) 2. Devin Nunes (CA) 3. Peter Roskam (IL) 4. Diane Black (TN) 5. Kristi Noem (SD) 6. Rob Bishop (UT) 7. Don Young (AK) 8. Greg Walden (OR) 9. John Shimkus (IL)
• The chambers are expected to conference because there were some technical problems identified with the Senate-passed bill (see attached manager’s amendment); otherwise the House could have simply passed the Senate bill.  A conference is needed to fix the technical problems though it is expected to be a pro-forma effort with only a single meeting and changes negotiated behind closed doors.
• We are likely to see the negotiated bill only shortly before it is voted on again by both the House and Senate.
• Timing is unclear but it could go into next week.
• This extra time is a great opportunity for advocates to target both the House and Senate!  The more time people have to learn about this bill, the greater its chances of defeat.

Good comparison of key differences between House and Senate Bills

• Washington Post

Updated CCD fact sheet – 5 Worst Things about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for People with Disabilities

• See attachment

Target List

• House targets including phone numbers for DC and district offices

Select Updated/Revised Talking Points from Tax Coalition

• This tax plan has been overwhelmingly rejected by the public according to multiple polls. Voters oppose this plan by a 2-to-1 margin in the latest Quinnipiac national survey (25% support, 52% oppose).

• The grassroots outage is already fierce and the backlash is only beginning. There have been more than 610 events in over 40 states denouncing the tax bills and over 650,000 calls to Congress opposing the bill.

• These plans break promises that members of Congress ran on year-after-year. Despite years of promising to reign in the debt, this plan increases the debt by $1.5 trillion to pay for their tax that primarily benefit wealthy individuals and large corporations.

• This is not a middle class tax cut

            KEY FACTS: The Senate tax plan

·        The top 0.1% get a $182,030 tax break and cuts corporate tax rates by 43%.

·        Nearly half of all Americans (48 percent; or 89 million), including 83 million middle-class families (households earning less than $200,000), get a tax hike

·        The top 1% of earners would get 62% of the benefit

·        Includes health care repeal that CBO says will rip health care away from13 million people and raise premiums 10%

·        Force $25 billion cut to Medicare next year

KEY FACTS: The House tax plan

·        The top 0.1% get a $320,000 tax break

·        Tax hike for 45 million households

·        Raises taxes on the 9 million people with high medical costs and raise taxes on nearly 12 million people paying student loan bills

·        President Trump and his family will get at least $1 billion in tax cuts

·        Force $25 billion cut to Medicare next year

News for Today:

Washington Post: Is the GOP tax plan an unprecedented windfall for the wealthy? We look at 50 years of data to find out.

• Key Points: It’s probably the most regressive tax cut in the past 50 years, the Republicans’ $1.4 trillion tax plan isn’t the biggest in history, and it is hard to find a tax plan that has done less for the middle class.

Axios: Progressive group targets 22 Republicans in seven-figure tax campaign

• 22 Republican members of Congress are the target of a new ad campaign from a progressive group that is launching a different ad for every Republican. Not One Penny is spending more than $1 million on the ad blitz.

Protecting Working Families Tour with MoveOn.org, Not One Penny, and Senator Sanders

• Akron Beacon Journal: Bernie Sanders scorches Trump tax plan in Akron
• Dayton Daily News: Bernie Sanders in Dayton Saturday for rally against tax plan
• Reading Eagle: Bernie Sanders rally against GOP tax plan draws over 1,600 to venue in Reading

Business Insider: Polls show key Republicans could get whacked by the GOP's massive tax bill

• Polling from six House swing districts found that the Republican tax bill is fairly unpopular with voters.
• The polls found that Republican incumbents could be dragged down by the bill.
• The GOP-held districts included in the polling were located in Iowa, Colorado, Virginia, Maine, New York, and California.