FACT CHECK: Trump’s Tax Plan Actually Encourages Outsourcing

In St. Charles, Missouri, Donald Trump just blatantly lied when he said the Senate tax bill is “anti-offshoring and 100 percent worker.”  This is far from the truth – these plans charge lower tax rates on foreign profits than domestic profits, which encourages outsourcing.

Numerous economic experts, including a former White House economic adviser to President George H.W. Bush, two former National Economic Council directors, and multiple think tanks have sounded the alarm that these tax policy changes would cause more outsourcing of American jobs. The AFL-CIO ​and the United Steelworkers have also identified this threat of more offshoring as their main reason for opposing the Republican tax plans.

“Donald Trump’s entire case for his tax plan is built on lies, and the American people aren’t going to be fooled,” said American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates. “The Senate Republican bill sells-out the American middle class and working families with job-killing incentives for companies to move operations overseas, breaking Trump’s number […]

Read more after the jump.

Republicans follow their unpopular healthcare plan with the most unpopular tax plan in 36 years

A new analysis by FiveThirtyEight finds that the Trump-Republican tax bill “is one of the least popular tax plans since Ronald Reagan’s day,” using polling averages dating back to 1981.

FiveThirtyEight concludes that the tax proposal is “historically” unpopular with the American public “because they think it disproportionately benefits the rich.”

Based on study after study, they’re right – this plan would raise taxes on 87 million middle class households to help finance outsize new breaks for the wealthiest Americans as well as a permanent corporate rate cut that Fortune 500 CEOs are saying would not go toward new jobs, but increasing shareholder pay.

“The American people are decisively rejecting the Trump-Republican tax bill because they know it cuts taxes for the rich and big companies at the expense of everyone else,” said American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates. “No matter how recklessly Trump and Republican Senators try to shove this bill […]

Read more after the jump.

American Bridge Statement On Alex Azar Hearing

American Bridge Rapid Response Director Emily Aden released the following statement on Alex Azar’s confirmation hearing today before the Senate HELP Committee:

“This morning, Alex Azar failed miserably to convince the American people that he is anything other than a former drug company president looking out for his bottom line. Unsurprisingly, he doubled down on his hostility to the Affordable Care Act, women’s right to birth control coverage, and paid cheap lip service to the high costs of prescription drugs that made him his millions. In round after round of questioning he proved he simply has no good answer about his record raising the prices of life saving medication. If he is confirmed he will carry out the bidding of the industry that made him rich and his ultimate boss- Donald Trump.”

Read more after the jump.

Five Things To Know About Alex Azar

This morning the Senate HELP Committee will hold its first hearing on HHS Secretary nominee, and former Big Pharma CEO, Alex Azar. Azar is a candidate hand-picked for the drug and insurance companies and will do anything to keep industry profits high even when it means raising insurance premiums and costs for lifesaving medication for the American people. It’s no surprise Azar, like Donald Trump, wants to destroy the Affordable Care Act and turn Medicaid into a block grant program, both of which are on industry bucket lists, raise costs for consumers, and disproportionately hurt women and working families.

American Bridge Rapid Response Director Emily Aden stated, “Donald Trump picked Alex Azar to lead HHS because he knows he can trust Azar to carry out his dangerous and destructive health care agenda. From dismantling the Affordable Care Act, to raising prices for prescription drugs, to rolling back access to women’s health […]

Read more after the jump.

Republicans On The Senate Budget Committee Vote To Sell-Out Middle Class Taxpayers

American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah released the following statement after the Senate Budget Committee passed the Republican tax plan with a party-line vote:

“Every Republican who voted ​’​yes​’​ just told the American people that tax cuts for the rich and large corporations are worth higher taxes for middle class families, higher healthcare costs for everyone, and the risk of more job-killing outsourcing.  This tax plan sells-out the American middle class and working families – and the Senators who backed it will be held accountable by their constituents.”

Read more after the jump.

Mulvaney STILL Thinks The CFPB Is A “Sick, Sad” “Joke” That Should Not Exist

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement in reaction to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney doubling down on his belief that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a “joke” that should not exist:

“If Donald Trump’s power-grab goes through and Mulvaney is allowed to be in charge, middle class Americans and working families are almost certain to lose the protections against abusive practices on the part of banks, credit card companies, payday lenders, and other entities that the CFPB was created to provide.  Trump is undermining the Wall Street reforms passed after the 2008 financial crisis and trying to cripple the CFPB from within – all in the name of partisan politics. This would be a major Wall Street win at the expense of millions of American consumers.”

The CFPB’s enforcement actions have delivered nearly $12 billion in relief for 29 million American consumers. ​

While in Congress, Mulvaney said that the […]

Read more after the jump.

American Bridge Statement on Trump’s Judicial Nominee Gregory Katsas

Today the Senate voted to advance President Trump’s nominee, Gregory Katsas, for the powerful DC Circuit Court. Katsas has advised the President on everything from the ACA’s contraception coverage to the Muslim Ban to the DACA repeal.

Dawn Huckelbridge, director of American Bridge’s Women’s Rights Initiative, stated, “Gregory Katsas’s confirmation would be profoundly dangerous for women. He has argued that Congress – not doctors – can make judgments about risks to women’s health, he is dismissive of a woman’s constitutionally protected rights, and has even opposed access to contraception. This is part of Trump’s fast moving charge to remake the federal judiciary with extreme conservatives who are out of touch with the American people, and Katsas has no place on the DC Circuit Court.”

American Bridge’s Women’s Rights Initiative launched a digital campaign earlier this fall to counter Katsas’s nomination, including a digital ad that outlined how Trump was stacking […]

Read more after the jump.

Trump Takes A Dangerous Agenda For Middle Class Families To Capitol Hill

As President Trump meets with Congressional Republicans today to push a tax bill that would enrich the super wealthy by increasing taxes on middle class families, he’s simultaneously ignoring key legislative priorities for working families. Together these moves underscore Trump’s true priorities – working for the rich at everyone else’s expense. 

“Programs that help out millions of people are falling by the wayside because of Donald Trump’s relentless pursuit of tax cuts to benefit the super rich at the expense of the middle class,” said Trump War Room Communications Director Harrell Kirstein. “Nine million kids could lose heath insurance if the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which expired two months ago, isn’t renewed before the end of the year. Trump and the GOP must also act to prevent the deportation of 800,000 Dreamers, renew vital anti-terror intelligence operations, and reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program after one of the most devastating storm seasons in […]

Read more after the jump.

Four More Times Trump Made Rude Comments About Native Americans

Donald Trump’s despicable joke at the World War Two Navajo Code Talkers events was sadly not his first crude comment about Native Americans:

 

Trump Continued To Call Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” After A Native American Reporter Called It Offensive: “Is It Offensive? You Tell Me.” [Donald Trump, Press Conference, Bismarck, ND, 5/26/16]

Trump Called Elizabeth Warren “The Indian.” [Donald Trump, Press Conference, Washington, DC, 3/21/16]

Trump Claimed That “Indians Have Gone Wild” On Hillary Clinton’s Remarks About Handling Men Who Get “Off The Reservation.” “Donald Trump: The way she talks about I can handle men… Chris Cuomo: You basically did. You said all she’s got is that she’s a woman.Trump: …who get off the reservation. I think it’s a very demeaning statement. Now I won’t even bring up the fact that Indians have gone wild on that statement. You know that, OK. The Indians have said that that statement is a disastrous […]

Read more after the jump.

Sanders Questions: Your Favorite President (Me) Edition

President Trump is back in action after the holiday break and entering a crucial period where he must finally prove to his supporters that he can get things done. The country shouldn’t hold its breath. For Trump, cutting taxes for the rich remains at the top of the list, but with health care for millions of children, disaster relief, and the status of 800,000 young Americans in this country all at stake, the President appears to be taking his responsibilities as serious as ever by reigniting his Putin-style feud against the free press.

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

1. Does the President understand how threatening a reality-TV style competition to discredit the national media is damaging to our democracy and the First Amendment?

2. Yesterday the nonpartisan CBO says that the Senate tax plan will raise taxes […]

Read more after the jump.