Issues: Trump transparency

RESEARCH FILE: Top pharmaceutical lobbyist Alex Azar will help Trump further sabotage Obamacare, attack women’s reproductive rights

American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah released the following statement on Donald Trump’s announcement that he will nominate Alex Azar to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services:

“Donald Trump is already sabotaging Obamacare – needlessly raising healthcare costs for American families all over the country – and failing to stand-up to rising drug prices like he promised.  Now he’s tapping a former pharmaceutical company lobbyist to help him do more damage at HHS.  For anyone concerned about health care access, affordability, and women’s reproductive rights, this administration has been a disaster from the start and now appears poised to get even worse.”

To read American Bridge’s full research file on Azar, please click HERE.

If Azar is confirmed by the Senate, it will mean that the Trump Administration has, in contradiction of Trump’s repeated pledge to “drain the swamp,” hired at least 189 former […]

Read more after the jump.

NEW REPORT: Senate GOP tax scam raises taxes on 1 in 3 middle class Americans

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates release the following statement after a new analysis found that, like the House Republican tax plan, the Senate proposal unveiled yesterday would raise taxes on one third of middle class Americans:

“Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Paul Ryan have all lied to the American people about the Republican tax scam, which would raise taxes on 1 in 3 middle class Americans in order to create new giveaways for the wealthiest taxpayers and large corporations. The writing is on the wall – instead of fighting to deliver economic relief to hardworking Americans like they promised, Trump and congressional Republicans are selling them out with this tax plan.”

This comes as both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have been forced to admit that a previous claim they both made – that all Americans would receive tax cuts under their plans – is […]

Read more after the jump.

ICYMI: More layoffs planned at Carrier plant Trump promised to save

“President Trump is King Midas in reverse, every business he touches lays off American workers,” said American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah.  “Here’s the truth: there have been more than 222,543 layoffs announced since Trump took office, including more than a thousand at the infamous Carrier Plant that Trump had promised to save.  His entire economic agenda has been lie, and the only consistent theme from his administration is a desire to further rig the economy for the super wealthy at the expense of the middle class.”

In addition to Carrier, many other businesses Trump touted have or promised to protect have turned around to layoff workers. This year that includes: 

Novartis laid off 204 workers — specifically noting that the jobs would be outsourced to India — even after Trump met with the company’s CEO.

Trump celebrating Boeing before the company laid off ~200 workers at the same […]

Read more after the jump.

In disastrous interview, Trump’s to​p​ economic adviser lies about middle class tax rates

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement after National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn admitted the Trump tax plan is rigged to benefit big corporations​ -​ not the middle class​ – ​and that CEOs were the “most excited” about the Republican tax plan:

​“The Trump Administration keeps sinking to new lows​ to sell their tax scam​. Things may look different from Goldman Sachs headquarters, but middle class Americans know that they are the ones who need relief – not big corporations and CEOs.  The country can’t afford ​an economy that’s rigged even more in favor of the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. ​Republicans are outright lying in order to raise taxes on the middle class just so they can finance new tax breaks for their campaign donors.”

Importantly, Fortune 500 CEOs have already declared that they plan to use the savings from […]

Read more after the jump.

Statement on CBO Report: Trying To Take Health Care From Millions Is Recipe For Even More GOP Losses

American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah issued the following statement after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that 13 million Americans would lose their healthcare coverage if Republicans repealed the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate with their tax plan, as Donald Trump is urging them to do:

“Voters sent an unmistakable message to Donald Trump and Republicans last night: take healthcare coverage from millions of Americans in order to cut taxes for the wealthy and big corporations at your own risk.  The Trump tax scam already threatens to raise taxes on millions of middle class families, and yesterday a Republican member of Congress even admitted that this is all about pleasing big-money campaign donors.  Republicans in Congress who join with Donald Trump to sell-out hardworking people will be held accountable in 2018, just like Ed Gillespie and Republicans were last night.”

Exit polls indicate that healthcare was the […]

Read more after the jump.

NEW ANALYSIS: Congress’s official tax scorekeeper finds GOP plan would raise taxes on millions of middle class families

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement after the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation found that in 2027, the Republican tax plan would raise taxes on millions of middle class Americans, refuting false claims from Trump and members of Congress:

“Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are insulting the intelligence of the American people as they try to rig the U.S. economy against them. Raising taxes on millions of middle class families in order to create new tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations tears Trump’s ‘populist’ promises to shreds. Revealingly, at the very same time one of the closest Republicans in Congress to Trump slipped and told the truth: this tax scam that sticks it to American families is all about pleasing big-money Republican donors.”

Yesterday, a New York Times analysis also found that “Nearly half of all middle-class families would pay more in taxes in […]

Read more after the jump.

Statement: Trump threatens more Obamacare sabotage unless Republican tax bill takes coverage from millions as it raises taxes on middle class families

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates issued the following statement after it was reported that Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to cripple the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, and which would be used if congressional Republicans do not repeal the mandate in their tax reform plan.

​”Raising taxes on millions of middle class families, and at the same time taking health coverage from 15 million people, in order to pay for new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations is dead wrong as an economic policy, and would be a catastrophic one-two punch for working people. Trump’s partisan sabotage of health insurance markets is already making healthcare costs skyrocket, and at the same time he’s trying sell them out even more by rigging the tax code for millionaires.”

The Trump Administration’s own Department of Health & Human Services has confirmed that premiums on the […]

Read more after the jump.

GOP Wants To Cut Cut Cut Health Insurance From 15 Million Americans With Trump’s Tax Bill

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates issued the following statement after House Ways & Means Chairman Kevin Brady said that, after urging from Donald Trump, Republicans were considering adding repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate to their tax plan.

“Let me get this straight – the Republican tax plan that is the centerpiece of Donald Trump’s economic agenda would raise taxes on millions of middle class Americans in order to pay for enormous new breaks for the wealthy and large corporations, and now they may also try to take healthcare away from 15 million Americans? This is repugnant, and it would be a gut punch to the very people counting on economic relief.”

This morning, The New York Times reported that economic modelling calculations using TaxBrain show that 13 million Americans who earn $100,000 a year or less would see their taxes increase under the Republican plan. An […]

Read more after the jump.

Statement: Trump threatens more Obamacare sabotage unless Republican tax bill takes coverage from millions as it raises taxes on middle class families

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates issued the following statement after it was reported that Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to cripple the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, and which would be used if congressional Republicans do not repeal the mandate in their tax reform plan.

​”Raising taxes on millions of middle class families, and at the same time taking health coverage from 28 million people, in order to pay for new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations is dead wrong as an economic policy, and would be a catastrophic one-two punch for working people. Trump’s partisan sabotage of health insurance markets is already making healthcare costs skyrocket, and at the same time he’s trying sell them out even more by rigging the tax code for millionaires.”

The Trump Administration’s own Department of Health & Human Services has confirmed that premiums on the […]

Read more after the jump.

Sanders Questions: Bully-In-Chief Edition

It’s been one day since the deadly terrorist attack in New York City and President Trump is taunting the home state Senator on Twitter with lies about his record and calling for immigration bans steeped in Islamophobia. As we’ve sadly come to expect from this President, he has shown once again moments that require leadership, unity, and compassion completely evade him.

American Bridge Rapid Response Director Emily Aden calls on White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to answer the following questions:

1. Why is President Trump calling for policy changes right out of the gate after yesterday’s terrorist attack in New York City but insisted it was not time talk about reforms after the terrorist attack in Las Vegas that killed 59 people and injured more than 500 more?

2. Does President Trump support Senator Grassley’s legislation to enforce registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in the wake of Paul Manafort’s […]

Read more after the jump.