House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that Democrats won’t help Republicans pass their tax plan, which she said would be opposed by the middle class.
“This morning, when the Republicans voted to advance the budget that they put forth, they drew a line in the sand between the middle class and working families, and the very wealthy and corporate American in our country,” Pelosi said. The GOP budget will set up consideration of a tax reform plan.
“It’s a con. It’s a massive con,” Pelosi said. “And we’re going to make sure that if they engage in this, the American people know how it affects them.”
The California Democrat also took aim at Republicans who voted for the budget despite representing states that would be hurt by the elimination of the state and local tax deduction. Many of the 20 Republicans who voted “no” on the budget come from those states, primarily New York and New Jersey.
A handful, though, voted for the budget, including Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., the chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
“I think that a part of what these members walked the plank for is something that they’re going to have to answer for back home,” Pelosi said. “I think that the ability to have leverage would have been to defeat this and then go to their speaker and say we want something different. In fact, they have enhanced — they have given leverage to the exploiters.”
“It’s a moment of definition, and we will not allow them to misrepresent the facts on this tax bill to the American people,” Pelosi said. “Heartbreaking because we could have come together to do something in a bipartisan way that would be sustainable.”
