Letter to Thomas Barthold, Chief of Staff - Senator Murray Blasts Anti-Middle Class Provisions in Republican Tax Plan, Urges Leader Mitch McConnell to Halt Vote on Massive Tax Bill Until Alabama's Senator-Elect is Seated

Letter

Dear Mr. Barthold:

Since I am unable to attend the Conference Committee meeting on H.R. 1, the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)" on Wednesday, I am submitting the questions I would have asked you if I were in attendance, as well as a few other critically important questions. However, I must first note that these questions are based on the tax bills that were jammed through the House and then the Senate at breakneck speed. While I would prefer to tailor my questions to the actual tax bill that has been negotiated for this Conference Committee, my Democrat colleagues and I were not consulted nor invited to participate in those conversations. Moreover, we have not seen the bill resulting from those negotiations, so this Conference Committee meeting seems to be more proof that this process was never intended to follow traditional order.

Can you confirm that if the House recedes to the Senate on a policy that repeals the individual coverage requirement, CBO estimates this policy would result in 13 million fewer Americans with health insurance coverage by 2027 and that premiums would be10 percent higher in most of the next ten years?

If the Senate recedes to the House on the change to the 529 college savings plans redefining eligible beneficiaries, which we know were included to undermine women's health and rights, will families be able to open college savings accounts any earlier than they are able to under current law?
How many children live in families who will be affected by a new provision in this bill requiring the filer to have a Social Security number to claim the Child Tax Credit under both the House bill and the Senate amendment?

How much revenue did filers with Individual Tax Identification Numbers contribute to the Federal Treasury? How is taking away this critical anti-poverty tool incentivizing these filers or helping children from immigrant families out of poverty?

Can you confirm that if the Senate recedes to the House on higher education tax provisions, the combined effect of changes to the tax credits, student loan interest deduction, employer-provided educational assistance, and tuition waivers would mean that students who enroll in higher education and training would see a collective tax increase of nearly $65 billion from 2018-2027?

Can you confirm that if the Senate recedes to the House on changes to the Lifetime Learning tax credit, student loan interest deduction, and employer-provided educational assistance provisions, it would raise the tax liability of millions of graduate students nationwide

According to estimates prepared by your office, ending the state and local tax deduction (SALT) will increase the effective tax rate for millions of people across the country, including about a third of those making between $50,000-$75,000 per year, and half of taxpayers making between $75,000- $100,000. As states, cities, and municipalities have told Members of Congress, much of these tax savings go to public education, public health care, and public infrastructure. As a result of the SALT elimination, can the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirm whether it anticipates a reduction in state and local spending on public education, public health care, and public infrastructure?

Can you confirm that if the House recedes to the Senate on the sunset of the individual tax provisions, corporations would receive a massive permanent tax cut (from 35 to 20 percent tax rate), while certain individuals will only receive modest temporary tax relief?

Can you confirm that your office found that the tax bills passed by the House and the Senate would not generate enough economic growth to pay for their $1.4 trillion in tax cuts?

Did the Joint Committee on Taxation in fact find that $1 trillion would be added to the deficit over the next decade for the bill that passed each chamber?

Can you confirm that under the statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act, the budgetary effects of the Republican tax package, which would raise deficits by up to $1.5 trillion over 10 years, would go onto the statutory PAYGO scorecards and be subject to sequestration procedures, including automatic cuts in Medicare and other, non-exempt mandatory spending? Can you confirm, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that enacting the Republican tax package would result in a sequestration order under statutory PAYGO of up to $136 billion in 2018 alone, resulting in $25 billion of cuts to Medicare and tens of billions of dollars in cuts to other programs? Can you confirm that the size of the cuts to programs other than Medicare would mean the zeroing out of remaining funding in 2018 for entire programs, including the Crime Victims Fund, the Social Services Block Grant, and the Public Health and Prevention Fund? Can you confirm the distribution of the cuts from these programs would disproportionately hit middle- and lower-income families?

When will the Joint Committee on Taxation's score and analysis on the bill that Republicans are negotiating in
this conference (without the input of the Democrats on this Conference Committee) be available?
Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. I would appreciate your responses at your earliest convenience, especially considering that we may be voting as early as next week on yet another tax bill that we have not seen and do not have sufficient time to study. If you have any questions, or would like to further discuss compliance with this request, please contact Kendra Isaacson or Zach Mallove on my staff at (202) 224-6572 or (202) 224-1464, respectively.

Sincerely,

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