Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) issued the following statement after the House today was forced to vote for a second time on the conference report to H.R. 1, the Republican tax bill. The version voted on yesterday violated Senate rules.
"Republicans in Congress have turned this season of giving into a season of taking. The GOP tax bill that passed the House today means millions of North Carolinians will lose out to corporate interests and the richest Americans. House Republicans today voted to raise taxes on 86 million families in order to hand 83 percent of the tax benefits to the wealthiest one percent of Americans.
"The Republican tax scam carries out yet another attack on health care, taking health insurance coverage from over 408,000 North Carolinians while adding another $1.5 trillion to our nation's deficit.
"At a time when the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Community Health Centers are running out of funding, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Dreamers remain in peril, Republicans have prioritized tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy and will pay for it by slashing funding from important safety net programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. This is wrong and does not reflect the best of who we are as a country.
"Apparently, voting once on this tax scam wasn't enough. In their haste for a quick political win, yesterday Republicans pushed through a flawed bill that violated Senate rules, forcing the House to yet again vote to give huge handouts to the wealthiest Americans and to add more than a trillion dollars to the deficit. It is shameful."