Commentary: WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall released the following statement after Senate and House Republicans released the final text of their tax plan:
“Republicans released their tax plan on a Friday evening, wrote it entirely behind closed doors without any Democratic input, and now want to force it through Congress days before Christmas and before the duly elected senator from Alabama can take his seat. That’s not the behavior of members of Congress who have any confidence in the quality of the product they're putting before the American people. And that’s because this bill wasn’t written to benefit the average New Mexican or American — it was written to satisfy billionaire donors and to help the ultra-wealthy and multi-national corporations, at the expense of everyone else.
“I am still studying the full effects this bill would have on New Mexico, but the big picture is clear. This Republican tax plan gives the biggest corporations and the wealthiest Americans a massive, permanent tax break. Meanwhile, it would saddle the rest of the country with a $1.5 trillion deficit hole, which would mean a huge tax increase on most Americans down the road – in the form of $12,500 in debt per family and cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This bill’s attack on the Affordable Care Act will leave 13 million Americans without health care, and send premiums and out-of-pocket costs soaring across the country. This tax bill would be especially disastrous for New Mexico, sending us on a collision course for a huge budget cut.
“The Republicans are trying desperately to force this through to give their donors a big gift before the holidays. But there’s still time to stop it. We need every New Mexican and American who opposes this terrible deal to call Congress and make their voices heard before it’s too late.”