The political nonprofit organization aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is airing new television advertisements attacking Reps. Cindy Axne of Iowa and Ron Kind of Wisconsin.
The $300,000 ad buy from American Action Network is part of a $1 million effort to sink a Democratic proposal to fund new infrastructure with a hike to what Republicans refer to as the death tax, also known as the inheritance tax. The spots hitting Axne and Kind are part of American Action Network’s focus on rural communities with family-owned farms as part of the overall GOP strategy to recapture the House in 2022.
“Our way of life is under attack by Washington liberals proposing a death tax that targets farmers, which could force us to sell off land that has been in our family for generations,” the voiceover says in the ad spotlighting Axne that is running on broadcast television in the Des Moines media market. The spot going after Kind, airing on broadcast stations in the Wausau and La Crosse markets, is similar.
Both ads flash pictures of well-known Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
“Nancy Pelosi wants to stop families from passing on the family farm, all so she can give away trillions for liberal pet projects,” American Action Network spokesman Calvin Moore said in a statement. “Pelosi’s plan would hurt farmers, hurt families, hurt our economic recovery and must be stopped now before it goes any further.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democratic campaign arm, aggressively refuted these claims. In a statement, DCCC spokeswoman Elena Kuhn said Democrats support policies that ensure family farms can be passed down from one generation to the next.
“House Democrats have made clear that they stand with family farms by ensuring that they’re fairly passed down to the next generation of farmers,” Kuhn said. “It’s shameful that Washington Republicans and their shady corporate-funded dark money group are spreading bold-faced lies about Democrats’ efforts to invest in infrastructure and create jobs in rural communities across the country.”
BYRON YORK’S DAILY MEMO: DEMOCRATS VOTER ID DEBACLE
Federal spending on infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges, and transportation hubs, is popular across the political spectrum. Democrats are betting Republicans will pay a political price for opposing President Joe Biden’s proposal to spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure financed by higher taxes. Biden and the Democrats say only the wealthy will get hit with tax hikes. Republicans disagree, saying ideas such as raising the inheritance tax will hit middle-class farming families and cost Democrats seats in Congress in the midterm elections.
In one poll conducted by the Republican firm Remington Research Group from June 9-11, 59% of a sampling of general election voters in Axne’s 3rd Congressional District of Iowa said they opposed “the death tax.” Although presented in a biased manner, the survey shows that if Republicans can win the messaging battle over how the inheritance tax is perceived, Democrats could be in big trouble next year — if the levy is raised to finance infrastructure spending.
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At this point, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are still negotiating with Biden, and no infrastructure bill has passed.
