Congressional Democrats may not be happy that the Republican tax plan is giving Americans a boost in their paychecks, but they’re realizing that appearing opposed to higher pay isn’t a great look.
Nancy Pelosi infamously called the $1,000 bonuses many corporations were announcing in the wake of tax reform “crumbs.” She said that because the bonuses were given out by “billion dollar corporations.” It’s a bizarre mentality that some liberals have – that they’re not OK with a poor person being made a dollar better off if a rich person is simultaneously a dollar and a cent better off.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz made similar comments, stating, “I’m not sure that $1,000 — which is taxed, taxable — goes very far for almost anyone.” Perhaps $1,000 doesn’t go far for Pelosi (who boasts a $29.5 million net worth) and Schultz, but it was kind of her to acknowledge that the $1,000 bonuses aren’t “really” $1,000 because of taxes. It’s certainly not thanks to Republicans that taxes on the middle class are still as high as they are.
Democrats are objectively losing ground, and you need to look no further than their mounting political losses over the past decade to see it. As we head into midterms, we have the RNC out-raising the DNC 2 to 1, holding over $40 million in cash on hand, while the DNC is in debt. That’s not a good sign for Democrats with elections right around the corner, so it’s no surprise that they’re finally condemning Pelosi’s comments to save face before midterms.
According to Axois, here’s what they’re saying:
- Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)’: “I would not describe it as crumbs,” Ellison told Business Insider. ‘The income inequality is so bad that if you could pick up 1,000 or 900 bucks, maybe it helps.”
- Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: “I recognize that something was in there. And where I come from, anything makes a difference,” Luján told CNN.
- Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY): “I think for people making $40,000 a year, any increase in their take-home is significant for them, and I don’t want to diminish that at all,” Crowley said at a press conference.
- Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX): “‘I would not use crumbs personally, and I think a lot of Blue Dogs would not use crumbs,” Cuellar told Politico.
- Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO): “Language is important, and we have to be very careful that we don’t insult people by saying that the amount of money they get is crumbs,” Cleaver told Politico. “We cannot be seen as patricians.”
- John Yarmuth (D-KY): “I would say it differently,” Yarmuth told the Washington Examiner. “I wouldn’t say a couple thousand dollars a year is ‘crumbs.'”
A Pelosi spokesperson, meanwhile, told Axois, “Big corporations and the wealthy are overwhelmingly using the GOP tax scam to line their own pockets, giving workers only a tiny fraction of what their labor has earned.”
I guess she hasn’t gotten the message.
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