Neal Statement on Republican Tax Plan

WASHINGTON, DC – Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) today released the following statement after introduction of the Ryan-McConnell Republican tax plan:

"I have been around Congress long enough to know that bad process usually leads to terrible policy. This Republican tax bill is no different. A rushed, partisan and secret process yielded over 400 pages of broken promises to middle-class families. This bill falls short of reform, falls short of middle-class tax relief and falls short of the fiscal principles that Republicans have long held themselves.

Months of secret negotiations have produced a plan that tilts the tax code farther from the middle-class and more towards the well-off and well-connected. This tax cut bill slashes taxes for big corporations and those at the top by gutting important deductions and tax incentives that every middle-class family in America relies on. Republicans have raided the very deductions and credits that help millions of families afford everything from groceries to medical expenses to a college education just to give more those who don't need it and haven't asked for it. For generations, the American dream was built on the promise that if you worked hard and played by the rules you could buy a home, raise a family and save for a secure retirement. Republicans have rolled out a bill today that makes homeownership more expensive, education more costly and needed medical care unaffordable.

Republicans had every opportunity to work with Democrats on a bipartisan plan that would have provided real reform for real people. Instead, they chose a path of secrecy and partisanship that excluded Democrats and many of their own members. Democrats will work in the coming weeks to expose the true cost this bill will have on middle-class families, small businesses and innovators."

###