It’s been a rough week for Senator Heller and the massively unpopular Republican tax scam that he’s been bragging about. Since voting for the bill on the Senate floor last Friday, Heller has been under fire from his constituents in Nevada, new polls have found Americans overwhelmingly rejecting the plan, and the text of Senate’s bill turned out to be filled with massive glitches and errors.
Here’s a quick day-by-day recap of the fallout:
Saturday, Dec. 2: Heller returns to Nevada and is greeted by furious constituents who confront him about his vote for the tax bill. Heller also received an ‘F’ in Governing 101 from WaPo.
- The Nevada Independent: Hours after tax reform vote, Heller defends the bill at Las Vegas event
- ThinkProgress: Woman with stage 4 cancer thrown out of town hall after asking GOP senator about health care
- Washington Post: Editorial: Senate Republicans just failed Governing 101
- “Republicans rushed through this massive change in policy with cursory vetting and no attempt at bipartisanship. They either do not care about the debt or they are so deluded by wishful thinking and fantasy economics that they should not be running a gas station, let alone the country. Either way, they just failed Governing 101.”
Monday, Dec. 4: Democrats ask Nevada voters: How much will the Republican tax scam cost you?
- The DSCC expanded their initial buy in Nevada for a new digital ad highlighting how Heller’s bill will hurt hardworking Nevadans so that corporations and billionaires get a big tax cut.
Tuesday, Dec. 5: Two new polls find that Heller’s tax plan is deeply unpopular with the majority of Americans.
- Gallup: Independents, Democrats Not on Board With GOP Tax Plan
- Quinnipiac University Poll: GOP Tax Plan Benefits Rich, U.S. Voters Say Almost 3-1
Wednesday, Dec. 6: The Senate GOP’s tax bill that Heller says he “helped write” is actually full of major glitches and errors.
- POLITICO: ‘Holy crap’: Experts find tax plan riddled with glitches
- “Republicans’ tax-rewrite plans are riddled with bugs, loopholes and other potential problems that could plague lawmakers long after their legislation is signed into law.”
- Business Insider: Experts are starting to find massive errors in the GOP tax bill after it went through Congress at lightning speed
- “As Republicans hurtle toward making their massive tax plan into law, experts are starting to find a slew of errors they say are most likely the result of a rushed process… Senate Republicans were making handwritten changes to the bill hours before passing it — it’s no surprise that experts have discovered complications in the immediate aftermath of the legislation’s passage.”
- New York Magazine: The Senate GOP Accidentally Killed Some of Its Donors’ Favorite Tax Breaks
- “But approaching major legislation like an Adderall-addled sophomore approaches an overdue term paper came with a minor drawback: It forced the party to pass a tax bill before they had time to read it.”
Thursday, Dec. 7: Another poll shows just how much Americans hate Heller’s tax plan, and CNN points out that Heller is only embracing the GOP’s tax bill because of his Bannon-backed primary challenger.
- CBS News: CBS News poll: Americans say tax plan helps wealthy, not middle class
- “The Republican tax plan faces opposition from a majority of Americans. Over half disapprove of it – including four in 10 who disapprove strongly, and only one in five Americans expect their own taxes to go down… Large majorities of all political stripes believe the plan will help corporations and the wealthy, but only one in three believe it will help the middle class.”
- CNN: “And Steve Bannon-backed primary challengers are making life difficult for Republican incumbents, chasing Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake into retirement and leading Nevada Sen. Dean Heller to brag that he “helped write” a tax bill that’s widely unpopular.”
Friday, Dec. 8: The red flags on the Republican tax plan keep piling up, with no end in sight…
- CNN Money: 4 red flags in the GOP tax bills
- Red flag #1: Tax plan would not simplify the tax code
- Red flag #2: Won’t pay for itself
- Red flag #3: Could saddle some corporations with a higher bill
- Red flag #4: Won’t offer “big” tax cuts for the middle class
- Vox: The Republican tax plan leaves a $1.5 trillion bill for the middle class to pay
- “If paid for with spending cuts, the bill leaves 71.6 percent of Americans worse off.”
- CNN: Tax bill could make ‘dark money’ political contributions tax deductible
- “For the first time in American politics, anonymous “dark money” political donations could become tax-deductible. That’s if a provision currently being debated between House and Senate negotiators makes it into the final tax bill.”
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