The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Dems play offense as vote looms
Blumenthal hopes to defeat or delay Republican changes
Democrats in Congress are hoping to delay or defeat the Republican tax changes, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Monday, stressing that the pending bill would result in “the richest becoming more wealthy.”
Speaking to reporters in the State Capitol before catching a plane to Washington, Blumenthal said he will push for hurricane relief payments to Puerto Rico, protections for foreign-born “dreamers,” and reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
“What really is necessary is to defeat a tax plan that is even worse than what was passed by the Senate,” he said. “It tilts the benefits so heavily in favor of the wealthiest and big corporations. It offers crumbs and sweeteners to the middle class but in fact higher taxes to many middle class and working families, and the benefits to them are temporary, whereas the benefits to the wealthiest and big corporations are permanent.”
The GOP tax bill is particularly harmful for Connecticut residents because it would allow for limited deductions for state and local taxes and caps mortgage-interest payments.
“This bill ... betrays the promises that were made, and I can tell you, without much fear of
“This bill ... betrays the promises that were made, and I can tell you ... few, if any, members of Congress have actually read this bill.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
contradiction, few, if any, members of Congress have actually read this bill,” he said.
The bill is scheduled for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives by Tuesday or Wednesday, with final action in the Senate in time to give President Donald Trump his first major legislative
victory in time for Christmas.
“There is virtually no time to do the Dream Act, Children Health Insurance Program, community health centers, as well as the relief necessary for Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico,” Blumenthal said. “What we have left this week is virtually a month’s worth of legislative business and there is certainly no deadline, no need to ram
through a complex, massive tax plan in the days left.”
Blumenthal said the average deductions in Connecticut total $19,000, so many will be deprived of $9,000 in tax benefits under the pending bill.
“The Republican leadership claims to have the votes,” he said. “We still have hope that some sanity
and rationality will prevail, but they have also made promises to various members of the Senate. They may lose votes if they cannot fulfill them. There is hope that we can at least delay this vote and maybe delay the tax plan.”