Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference on 6 Months Since GOP Tax Scam, as House Republicans Mark-Up Budget Slashing Medicare & Medicaid

Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined House Democrats at a press conference to mark six months since the House passed the deficit-exploding GOP Tax Scam for the rich, as House Republicans begin to mark-up a budget calling for massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid to fill the hole for their tax giveaways. Below are the Leader's remarks:

Leader Pelosi. Many of you were outside earlier to decry the shameful nature of the President's policy in relationship to taking children away from their parents.

That is not, however, our call to service right now. Today, we are observing the fact that six months ago the bill, again shameful, dark cloud of a tax break for corporate America and the richest people passed the House of Representatives.

It is a bill that again is a cost to our future by increasing the deficit. It is unfair to America's working families by giving 83 percent of the benefits to the wealthiest people, the top one percent. It is claimed to be a middle class tax benefit, but 86 million American families, middle income families, will be paying more in taxes under this, in the life of this bill.

What is of particular concern to us now is the impact of a provision in the bill about health care. As you know, it stripped the bill of the individual mandate and that is a problem because it is the predicate, it is the basis, for the administration's case that they have said, that they are not going to protect the Affordable Care Act, the pre-existing medical condition benefits in the courts.

As you know, following the tax bill, a number of states said that they were not going to honor that benefit. We expected the Justice Department to honor the law of the land and to defend that law, providing a benefit of a pre-existing condition. They said two weeks ago that they would not.

So, today, and tomorrow, we are going to make sure the public knows, yet again, another problem with the tax bill for what it means to them in terms of their health security and their personal security.

I am pleased to be joined by our Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee Richie Neal. We are also joined by Betty – a number of our colleagues who will speak directly to the consequences of the GOP tax scam, a tax scam for the rich and the impact it is having on seniors and working families across the country.

We will be hearing from Congresswoman Betty McCollum, a member of the Appropriations Committee from Minnesota, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge from the Education [and Workforce Committee], another committee of jurisdiction for this bill, from Ohio, Donald Norcross of New Jersey, Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, Congresswoman Val Demmings of Florida.

But, first, it is my privilege to yield to the distinguished Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee, Richie Neal.

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Leader Pelosi. Thank you very much. I just want to draw your attention to this chart prepared by the Budget Committee as you probably know, the Republicans have put forth their budget and, sure enough, what does it do? Predicated on the budget, it says, ‘My tax cuts will pay for themselves, it's trickle-down economics.' That's what the Republicans said. Tax cuts for the rich, you have it there but it didn't, it exploded the deficit and as you see, ‘How did this happen? We'll have to cut spending.' And here we are, ‘Demand big cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, education and the list goes on.'

What's stunning about it all is that it's so predictable. And if they were going to give a $2 trillion tax cut to corporate America, wouldn't it have been better to spend that on an infrastructure and transportation to create jobs, good-paying jobs, in our country? Instead of giving a tax cut to corporate America some of which was a benefit to ship jobs overseas – there is a benefit if you create jobs overseas. Mr. Neal will speak to that I'm sure when asked. With that, we will take any questions related to this subject.

Q: I wonder how much you think this is a topic for the midterms. You guys want to talk about this, the Republicans are having an event right now. A lot of times it is being overshadowed by other events. How do you keep this in the forefront given there is something that is always overshadowing it?

Leader Pelosi. Well, there is always an eclipse, every year but this is fundamental. If you want to get really personal, all politics is local, in this case, personal, you talk about taking away the benefit of pre-existing conditions and understand what that means to families and so the unfairness of the tax cut is one argument. People know it is unfair. The consequences to the budget impact them directly because of the dependence of Medicare and Medicaid. Then the further damage as the basis for a lawsuit that was taken forth to say, ‘We don't have to honor the pre-existing condition benefit.' And that really is deadly, literally and figuratively. Mr. Neal?

Congressman Neal. You see what is happening with their tax cut, it is declining every week in popularity. More and more people have had the chance to focus on the reality of its implementation and when you contrast it with how they intend to pay for it going forward, I think that continuing talking about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' benefits, higher education and saying they're going to be cut so that the wealthiest in America could have a huge tax cut. I think continuing to talk about it, that's all you have to do.

Leader Pelosi. This is part of our Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Pay, Better Future and part of Better Future is lowering costs and health care costs are going up under their formulation. We think that is a raw deal and we have a Better Deal. We want to advance that to the American people, including lowering the costs of prescription drugs, retaining their Medicare and Medicaid benefits, very essentially important not only to the health security of these families but also the financial stability to families as well. Again, we have a Better Deal contrasted to their raw deal. Anyone else want to say anything? Any other questions on this? On another subject?

Q: There is talk about a second round of tax cuts, this time on the individual stuff which is more popular. Do you think that would be trickier for you if it's more focused on the individual side, middle class tax cuts if they do another round of these?

Leader Pelosi. The fact is, they made the middle class tax cut a secondary consideration for them. Why is it that they made it permanent for corporate America – permanent tax cuts? But for middle class tax cuts – oh it's temporary, that's why their taxes will go up in the life of this bill should this bill stand, so we'll see what they want to do. They have all their friends coming in for what they call ‘technical corrections' because they wrote this bill fast. Even some of the people that benefit want more so that will be an ongoing debate. Yes, sir?

Q: What will be your first step in combatting this GOP tax bill?

Leader Pelosi. Well, we haven't seen what it is yet and they still can't – the reason they couldn't do the tax cuts for the middle class is that they didn't have enough reconciliation room – technically speaking – so what did they do? They said, ‘we have this much space and we will give it to corporate America instead of middle class tax cuts.' They still have to pass a bill on the Floor in order to get that space under reconciliation but the bill they are proposing cuts Medicare, Medicare, Social Security, disability benefits. I don't think it has a good chance on the Floor. Thank you all very much.

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