12.20.17

Grijalva on the Passage of the GOP Tax Scam and Inadequate Disaster Relief Plan

Washington, D.C. – House Republicans voted for a second time today to shower early Christmas presents on the richest one percent and wealthy corporations, while raising taxes on millions of middle class families. Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) – who served on the tax bill conference committee, but did not sign the final conference report – voted against the bill because it will have devastating consequences on American families while opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling.

Grijalva was also critical of a Republican spending package that is supposed to assist communities devastated by recent natural disasters, but falls far short of actually meeting those needs.

“House Republicans are doing everything they can to rip holiday cheer directly from American homes,” Grijalva said. “Republicans are acting like the Grinch, stealing directly from middle class families, and handing goodies over to big corporations like the oil and gas industry. There’s no return policy on drilling the fragile Arctic Refuge – once it becomes an oil pad, it’s destroyed forever. This is not good energy policy, it's not good fiscal policy, and it is most certainly not good environmental policy. The only winners in this Republican tax scam are big corporations and the wealthy.

In a separate attack on the people of Puerto Rico, House Republicans unveiled a disaster funding package last night that fails to help our fellow Americans living on the island rebuild and recover from Hurricane Maria and their ongoing debt crisis. The proposed package fails to offer sufficient disaster funding, doesn’t include a waiver of cost-sharing, and would give the Oversight Board more control over disaster funding.

“We are nearing 100 days after hurricanes devastated Puerto Rico. Many of our fellow Americans on the island are still without power and the Governor has announced a recount process, because the casualty numbers that have been thrown around wildly understate the horror caused by these disasters,” Grijalva said. 

“The amount of funding, and the strings attached to it for Puerto Rico, are unacceptable. I do not understand how my Republican colleagues can go home and celebrate a season of giving after giving the wealthiest among us even more riches while denying American citizens living on Puerto Rico the disaster aid they need just to survive,” Grijalva concluded.

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Diane Padilla

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