August 10, 1993: President Bill Clinton signs the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which literally passed by a single vote in both the House and Senate, with 0 Republican votes. Factcheck.org describes what happened next (emphasis mine):
Republicans denounced it as the “largest tax increase in history,” though in fact it was not a record and also contained some cuts in projected spending. Republican Rep. Newt Gingrich predicted: “The tax increase will kill jobs and lead to a recession, and the recession will force people off of work and onto unemployment and will actually increase the deficit.” But just the opposite happened. Fears of inflation waned and interest rates fell, making money cheaper to borrow for homes, cars and investment. What had been a slow economic recovery turned into a roaring boom, bringing in so much unanticipated tax revenue from rising incomes and stock-market gains that the government actually was running record surpluses by the time Clinton left office.March 23, 2010: President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Care Act, which passed the Senate by a 60-39 margin despite a Republican filibuster, and without a single Republican vote in either the House or the Senate. Whatever its flaws, it did accomplish the following:
- 20 million Americans (or more) got health insurance who didn't have it previously.
- "Studies have found that fewer people struggled with medical bills or avoided medical care because of cost, and that medical debt and bills in collections have declined."
- It made health insurance more comprehensive.
- Despite what you might hear from Republicans, Obamacare actually lowered the deficit.
December 2, 2017: At about 2:00 AM on a Saturday morning, after hastily hand-writing changes to the legislation, including a long list of amendments containing giveaways to lobbyists, Senate Republicans pass the 'Cut, Cut, Cut' tax reform bill with 0 Democratic votes. A similar bill had previously passed the House with 0 Democratic votes.
This bill is fundamentally nothing more than a giveaway to millionaires and corporations, as it's more or less a wash for families earning less than $75,000 a year. You can read a good summary here or do your own Googling, but the key takeaway is that Republicans are blowing a $1.5 trillion hole in the budget to give even more tax breaks to the ultra-rich. And contrary to Republican claims that this cut will supercharge the economy, the actual economic benefit will be modest-to-nonexistent. Which all by itself is just greedy and stupid, but there's collateral damage to consider as well:
- 13 million Americans will lose health insurance, and everyone else participating in the individual market will see a 10% premium hike. One expert predicts that the bill will lead to "ballooning premiums that will crush millions of families".
- It will decimate graduate education in the United States.
- It will open up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
- Worst of all, it will trigger the sequester, which will mean $25 billion in cuts to Medicare, $20 billion in cuts to farm aid, and complete elimination of many other programs.
Now, the good news is that the stupid Republican tax plan is not yet law. The House must either pass the same bill just approved by the Senate, or the two houses must work together to come up with a reconciliation bill, which both houses must vote on and pass. Which means there's time to stop it! Contact your representative and tell them to defeat the tax reform bill, or send them a letter, or both! And act fast! You never know when Republicans might decide to hold another vote under the cover of darkness!
(P.S. Hopefully this history lesson demonstrates the fact that Democrats and Republicans have starkly different priorities. Not to mention the fact that this stupid tax plan would have zero chance of becoming law if a Democrat sat in the oval office. Remember this the next time some smug idiot tells you that there's no difference between the two major parties. And then never listen to them again.)
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