GOP Rep. Mark Walker twisted himself into a pretzel on Wednesday when he tried to defend the Republican tax plan, specifically a provision in the proposal that would end the tax credit for families with adopted children and instead slash the estate tax for a handful of wealthy families.
Hayes asked Rep. Walker why families who have adopted a child should be forced to give up their tax credit “so that Donald Trump’s family can inherit more of Donald Trump’s money,” and the Republican lawmaker had a hard time justifying it.
Video:
GOP Lawmaker Stumped After Chris Hayes Busts Republican Tax Plan For Killing Adoption Credit #taxplan #inners pic.twitter.com/WZS7QKS74B
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— Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) November 9, 2017
Part of the back-and-forth:
WALKER: Well, I don’t know about what Donald Trump’s family can inherit.
HAYES: Well, you would agree that the estate tax zone-out, phase-out will benefit them?
WALKER: Well, I don’t know that it has a direct impact on the adoption child tax credit…
HAYES: Money in, money out.
…
HAYES: If that stays in, if they get rid of the adoption tax credit … is that a dealbreaker for you on whether you vote for this bill?
WALKER: I don’t know that it’s a dealbreaker. … If you can prove to me that they’re still better off then it’s certainly something that I’m gonna support.
What’s stunning about the exchange between Hayes and Walker is that the GOP lawmaker admitted that, even though he opposes the provision that kills this crucial tax credit, he would probably still vote for it.
It goes to show how much these Republican members of Congress are influenced not by their constituents – the folks they’re supposed to represent – but by wealthy donors.
One Republican member of Congress, Chris Collins of New York, even admitted that his vote is heavily influenced by campaign contributors, saying: “My donors are basically saying get it done or don’t ever call me again.”
Meanwhile, the more the American people learn about the Republican tax reform plan, the more they recognize that it’s just another massive handout to wealthy individuals and big corporations at the expense of millions of middle and lower-income folks.
Republicans can worry all they want about their donors abandoning them for not passing a tax reform plan that caters to the wealthy, but it will be the voters saying “don’t ever call me again” if they do ram it through Congress.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
