‘Pro-Billionaire, Anti-Middle Class Budget’: Senator Speaks Out Against Trump Tax Plan
Patty Murray talks about the truth about Elon Musk’s slashing of government
The efforts of Donald Trump and his billionaire advisor, Elon Musk, to take a chainsaw to the federal government isn’t really about finding efficiencies, according to one of the longest-serving US senators.
Rather, it’s about remaking the government with the priorities of the wealthiest few Americans, and with an eye toward even more tax cuts for those billionaires and multi-millionaires, Sen Patty Murray (D-Wash) said in remarks on the Senate floor.
With Trump’s blessings, Musk and his team known as “DOGE,” have been coming into a variety of federal agencies in recent weeks, disrupting and dismantling them. Further, under Trump’s direction, thousands of federal employees have been let go, causing more displacements and difficulties across the country.
Unlike Musk’s stated goals, DOGE really isn’t rooting out any real waste, fraud and abuse, said Murray, first elected in 1992.
“Even now, as egg prices hit an all-time high, Trump and Musk have done nothing to lower prices,” she said. “They’ve done nothing to address the housing crisis, or help families get quality, affordable child care, or address other issues I hear about from folks all the time.
“Instead, they are slashing programs that help our families make ends meet,” Murray added.
Trump and Musk are gutting agencies, inflaming trade wars with threats of tariffs, and ceding leadership abroad to the likes of China and Russia, she said.
Among the programs Trump and Musk have endangered with reckless cuts is federal work on diseases, including the bird flu and measles, Murray said.
“While President Trump is busy making problems worse, and quoting dictators, what are we doing here in the Senate?” she asked. “Are we holding President Trump accountable?”
“No,” says Murray.
Rather, congressional Republicans are working with Trump and Musk to craft a new federal budget that will make way for more tax cuts tilted almost entirely towards the wealthiest Americans, she said.
“There is a serious path forward for our country. But it is one where Congress works together to avoid a shutdown, stops the de facto shutdown that’s already happening, and reasserts its authority to protect the funding our communities need,” Murray said. “But unfortunately, that’s a far cry from the path Republicans are going down with this pro-billionaire, anti-middle class budget resolution that’s on the floor.
“Let me be very clear. The Republicans’ budget doesn’t just accept it, it doubles down on what Trump and Musk are doing,” she added.
Republican-led tax cuts actually have been the single biggest driver of the federal debt over the last few decades, Murray said.
“Everyday Americans will pay for billionaire tax breaks with their healthcare. They will pay for billionaire tax breaks with abandoned medical research,” she added. “They will pay for billionaire tax breaks with shuttered family farms and small businesses.”
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