Last night, U.S. Senate Republicans made it clear that their loyalties lie with big corporations and the wealthiest 1 percent, not with moms, women, working families, or our economy. The tax plan they passed would punish the middle class, devastate essential programs that boost our health care, nutrition and education; and undermine our economy.
 
It amounts to a massive wealth shift in our economy, which already has massive wealth inequality. More than 75 percent of the GOP tax plan's benefits would go to the wealthiest 20 percent of households, while the bottom 20 percent would only receive around 2 percent of the benefits. Our country is already the third worst in terms of income inequality among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries; and this tax plan would only make economic inequality worse.  
 
This bill will benefit a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals and mega-corporations while causing deep and lasting harm to working families, to the middle class, and to all those who struggle to make ends meet. It adds $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit and still ends state and local tax deductions, which one-third of taxpayers use for critical tax relief. The U.S. Senate tax bill includes a weak version of the Child Tax Credit, which lacks refundability; that means, just like with the U.S. House bill, the low-income families of 10 million children who could benefit the most from this anti-poverty program would lose out. It also eliminates the mortgage deduction and the student loan deduction, both of which are essential for middle class families.
 
But the harm to working families doesn’t stop there. The U.S. Senate bill also constitutes another Republican attack on our health care by repealing the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. This would cause 13 million people to lose their coverage, completely sabotage the health care marketplace and explode premiums, making health insurance unaffordable for millions of vulnerable Americans.
 
Moms are expert lie detectors. We know that this plan isn’t for us – it’s for Wall Street executives, real estate moguls and golf course owners. It’s bad for our families and our economy, and will create a legacy of debt that our children will be forced to pay off.
 
This bill is terribly destructive for our country and our children’s futures. We urge lawmakers to reconsider during the conference process.

Reporters: View this as a statement in our newsroom.