DeLauro Slams GOP Tax Proposal: “Slap in the face to working families who already live paycheck to paycheck”

Today, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) issued a statement in response to Congressional Republicans’ tax bill that would provide over a trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations while failing to do anything substantial for middle- and working-class families: 

“President Trump promised he would lower the cost of living for working families on Day 1. J.D. Vance campaigned on a $5,000 Child Tax Credit. The White House floated a baby bonus for new parents. These promises got them elected – and now they are breaking them to reward their billionaire donors and the biggest corporations.  

“Their tax bill makes the Child Tax Credit even weaker than it was after Republicans’ 2017 tax giveaway to the wealthy. Middle-class families would get a smaller real benefit – and one in four children would be left behind because their parents or grandparents don’t earn enough to qualify for the full credit. Even families working full time, full year, at the minimum wage don’t make enough to qualify for the full benefit, no matter how many kids they have.

“Rural families will be left behind. Large families will be left behind. Families headed by grandparents will be left behind. And babies born early in the year will be left behind.

“Democrats are fighting for the largest middle-class tax cut in decades with an expanded, monthly Child Tax Credit at the center. Our plan includes indexing the credit to inflation so it keeps up with rising costs and delivering a baby bonus so new parents can afford basic necessities in their child’s first year. That is what families need – and what they expect. 

“The Republican plan is a slap in the face to working families who already live paycheck to paycheck. Instead of passing tax cuts that help working-class Americans, they are fighting for the children of billionaires through massively cutting the estate tax. 

“We are in a cost-of-living crisis. Prices are rising at the hospital, at the grocery store, at home, on baby supplies, and in child care. We need policies that put more money in hardworking Americans pockets – not handouts for billionaires and the biggest corporations.”