House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Tuesday that it is “accurate” to say she wants to roll back the Republican tax law.
When asked by Politico about an ad released by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which claimed that Pelosi wants to institute a single payer healthcare system and raise taxes, the House Democratic leader said the second part of the statement is correct.
“The second part there is accurate,” Pelosi said. “I do think we should revisit the tax legislation in a way that we always have, in a bipartisan, transparent way that the result is unifying for the country.”
Democrats argue that while some benefits have gone to some Americans, 83 percent of the benefits will ultimately go to the wealthiest earners and that taxes will rise over the lifetime of the bill despite some individuals seeing tax cuts this year.
In a statement released soon after the comments, the NRCC said it appreciates Pelosi’s “honesty” and said it plans to include the line in ads throughout the next six months.
“We told you over and over and now you’ve heard it straight from Nancy Pelosi’s mouth: If Democrats take back the House and she’s reinstalled as Speaker, your taxes will go up,” said Matt Gorman, communications director at the NRCC.
“The NRCC appreciates her honesty. Rest assured you’ll be seeing this video repeatedly this fall,” he added
Pelosi has referred to the law as a “dark cloud” hanging over the Capitol and the budget process in Congress. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Democratic leader said that Republicans are “desperate” to misrepresent any attempt to roll back the law.
“Once again, Republicans are desperate to misrepresent any effort to roll back their debt-exploding tax giveaways for big corporations and the wealthiest 1 percent as ‘raising taxes’ on middle class families,” said Henry Connelly, a Pelosi spokesman. “The fact is, while the GOP wrote a bill that ultimately raises taxes on 86 million middle class families, Democrats want to strengthen middle class tax cuts and make them permanent.
“As Leader Pelosi has frequently said, Democrats want to revisit the GOP tax legislation in a way that ‘would be bipartisan, open, transparent, and unifying as we go forward to strengthen middle class tax cuts and to do so in a way that creates good paying jobs, promotes growth and reduces the deficit.’ ”
Republicans are expected to run on the tax law throughout the 2018 midterms as they hope to retain control of the House and Senate.
