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GOP senator demands Democrats fix 'mistake' in tax scam he voted for

After passing a disastrous, error-ridden tax bill with zero Democratic support or input, Sen. Chuck Grassley thinks it’s only fair Democrats vote for all the changes Republicans need.

By Matthew Chapman - March 19, 2018
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, whose panel is investigating Russian meddling in the U.S. elections, listens to a reporter's question about the case as he boards a tram between the Capitol and the Senate office buildings following final votes, in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017. Some House Republicans ratcheted up criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling Wednesday, questioning whether there was bias on his team of lawyers but stopping short of calling for his firing or resignation.

Republicans were so desperate to ram through their tax bill scam for corporations and billionaires that the final law is riddled with disastrous drafting errors that hurt farmers and small businesses.

But senators like Chuck Grassley (R-IA) believe it is now Democrats’ responsibility to provide the votes to fix the bill with no strings attached.

“Surely Democrats have to understand that when you make a mistake like that, it ought to be fixed without bargaining with them on something else,” Grassley said, according to an Axios report.

The chutzpah of Grassley to demand Democrats shoulder the responsibility for fixing a bill they didn’t want is especially galling in light of Republicans’ abject refusal to fix any drafting issue with Obamacare, as Axios points out. They even tried to get the Supreme Court to abolish the law because of a typo.

But more importantly, some Republicans have already admitted that their own rush job got the country into this mess, with Rep. Kevin Brady, chair of the Ways and Means committee and a key architect of the bill, listing out errors his caucus made that need to be fixed.

The fact is, none of this would have happened if Republicans like Grassley had included Democrats in the process, rather than shut them out and let lobbyists craft the details hours before major votes.

But Grassley was nakedly obsessed with passing tax cuts for the rich, and he knew that the longer the bill was debated, the harder it would be to counteract overwhelming public opposition. He made it clear who he was working for when he said relief needed to go to wealthy heirs and heiresses because working people just spend their money on “booze or women or movies.”

And the public knows who carries the blame. The GOP had to pull ads touting the tax bill from the Pennsylvania special election after realizing the voters were not impressed.

Republicans own the failure of their scam. And Democrats have every right to demand the GOP help middle-class families instead of their wealthy donors.


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