TAX CUTS (again!)

December 15, 2017

 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

If I understand correctly, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will be sent to the House of Representatives next Tuesday or Wednesday for a vote. The latest word that has come to my attention is that the House and Senate have succeeded in reconciling their bills, and that the Majority Leader in the Senate believes he has the votes needed for passage.

I write to ask you to vote NO. I realize that my request is likely to be ignored, but I write to ask it any way. From everything I have read about this bill—and I have read a good deal of reports from a variety of sources—it is an atrocious piece of legislation, which is being rushed through Congress merely in order to have something, anything, for Republicans and their “president” to claim as a victory in the first year of his tenure; to rescue one last possible scrap of his already tattered reputation.

Aside from needlessly prioritizing the military and adding shamefully and massively to the deficit—an action that Republicans loudly deplored when enacted by their Democratic colleagues—the bill masks its real purpose of benefiting the already wealthy behind token sops for the middle class and a slap in the face for the poor. It will be followed, we can safely assume, by loud calls from your party for severe cuts in social services to cover the increase in the deficit that you have created.

I don’t know how much longer Republicans can get away with spitting in the face of the people whose interests they are supposed to serve, but I’m fervently hoping it will be no longer than November, 2018. The damage you and your “president” are inflicting on this country will unhappily last very much longer.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.