Rubio targets Citi and Amazon with bill on abortion-travel benefits
Sen. Marco Rubio is sending a message to Amazon, The Walt Disney Co., Citigroup and other U.S. companies that have vowed to pay travel costs for their employees to access abortion services or gender-affirming care for their children: Republicans want to make it more expensive.
The Florida Republican, a potential contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, is proposing legislation that would prevent companies from writing off these costs for their employees and their families. The tax code generally allows companies to deduct their business costs, including employee health coverage and other benefits.
Rubio’s bill illustrates the GOP’s split with corporate America. The rift has grown since former President Donald Trump’s presidency over concerns about his rhetoric about racism and democracy, as well as disagreements over trade and immigration policies.
Rubio, who was a favorite of corporate donors during his 2016 presidential bid, has recently called corporations “the instrument of anti-American ideologies,” a view echoed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another potential GOP presidential contender.
“Our tax code should be pro-family and promote a culture of life,” Rubio said in a statement. “Instead, too often our corporations find loopholes to subsidize the murder of unborn babies or horrific ‘medical’ treatments on kids. My bill would make sure this does not happen.”
The legislation has no chance of becoming law while Democrats control any of the levers of power in Washington, meaning it would be blocked at least until the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January 2025. But the bill reveals a glimpse of Republican messaging and legislation that the party would consider if it gains a majority in either the House or Senate after November’s midterm elections.
Rubio said his bill is a direct response to corporations that have said they’ll pay for employees to travel to access abortion services and follows a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade. Those companies include Amazon, Apple and Citigroup.
Rubio’s bill also adds more heat to an ongoing feud with Disney, which has more than 77,000 employees in his state, over Florida’s “don’t say gay” law, which restricts educators from talking about LGBTQ issues. Disney publicly opposed the legislation and says the company will help their employees and their children access genderaffirming care, such as puberty blockers and top surgery, if they seek it.
In an opinion piece published by Newsweek, Rubio pointed to abortion, gender-affirming treatments and “leftist indoctrination in public schools” as three issues affecting kids in the United States.
Medical experts agree that affirming a child’s gender can be lifesaving.