Schweikert Rips Democrats' Opposition to Tax Cuts & Jobs Act

Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ) did not mince words ripping Democratic opposition to extending President Donald Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on the House floor recently, asking why they want to play the blame game "instead of being willing to tell our voters the truth?"

"My brothers and sisters on the left often want to attack the tax reform of 2017 [and] attack tax receipts," Rep. Schweikert began, saying that he had done "presentation after presentation by this microphone, using the stuff from the Manhattan Institute" explaining why their insistence on raising taxes and increasing spending is not economically viable.

For instance, he continued, "If we do all of the Democrat tax hikes, and then do the economic adjustments, often from Democrat groups, you get about one and a half percent of GDP [gross domestic product] in new tax receipts."

Rep. Schweikert previously noted what this means last March with the American Enterprise Institute. If everyone making $400,000 or more per year were taxed as much as possible, it would amount to approximately 1.5% of the country's GDP when the government is borrowing nearly 10% of the GDP every year.

In other words, squeezing every penny out of the nation's top earners does nothing to solve the debt and deficit.

That brought the Arizona Congressman to Social Security: Democrats want to raise the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security tax, he said.

"Okay, in 2033, the Social Security trust fund is completely empty," Schweikert countered, noting, "Our brothers and sisters on Social Security will take a 17 to 20% cut. We double senior poverty in America. And when someone says we will just raise the cap, our model is, in that next year, 2034, raising the cap only covers about 38% of the shortfall, and you have wiped out the cash and the other things you actually need to also save Medicare, which, actually, that trust fund runs out three years later."

Schweikert ended his address by asking Democrats, "What happens when there is this intense hunger to play this weird blame game instead of being willing to tell our voters the truth?"

In late January, the Arizona Congressman introduced a bill requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee before the national debt limit is reached or extraordinary measures are taken to prevent defaulting.