Editor, Gazette-Journal:
As I write this letter, the U.S. House of Representatives is working to pass the most irresponsible piece of legislation of my lifetime. Because it is a budget reconciliation bill, which only requires 50 votes in the Senate, it is likely to be passed by the Senate.
The bill does three things that are reprehensible. First, it cuts taxes in a highly regressive manner, giving the highest income taxpayers the biggest break while actually increasing federal income taxes on people who earn $50,000 or less a year.
Second, the bill purportedly pays for these tax cuts by cutting expenses, the bulk of which will come from Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps), directly harming low-income people.
Third, despite these egregious cuts, the bill will explode the federal debt by $3.8 trillion over the next 10 years. The credit rating of the U.S. government has already been downgraded. Moody’s Analytics estimates that in 10 years, one third of all tax revenue will go to paying the in...