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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

One Last Chance to Fight the GOP Tax Bill! Take Action Now and Participate in Monday’s Call-In Day!

The conference committee working to reconcile the House and Senate tax bills is close to an agreement, and we expect to see a conference report tomorrow. Both the Senate and the House will likely vote shortly after, with a Senate vote expected as soon as Monday or Tuesday and a House vote Tuesday or Wednesday. This schedule may change slightly, but either way this is our last chance to fight this dangerous bill. And even though the GOP may seem to have the advantage, this is NOT a done deal. We must keep our efforts up!

NCIL logo - National Council on Independent LivingTake Action Now!

Our Senators and Representatives are feeling the pressure, and some have hinted that they may not be on board. We need to keep pushing and making sure they hear from their constituents! Tell your members of Congress that their tax bill will hurt people with disabilities and cut the revenue needed to pay for programs we rely on. Tell them that tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations shouldn’t be paid for by jeopardizing the programs their disabled constituents need!

  • Participate in Monday’s National Call-In Day! Find more information at the Facebook event. RSVP and share widely with your networks!
  • Call your Senators and Representatives DAILY and tell them to vote NO! Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or (202) 224-3091 (TTY). Find their direct numbers and local office numbers at Contacting Congress.
  • Use Resistbot to turn texts into faxes, mail, or hand-delivered letters.
  • Fax your members of Congress (use faxzero.com to find their fax number).
  • Email, post on Facebook, or Tweet with information on Contacting Congress. Join in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #TaxOnDisability.

It is important to reach out to all of our members of Congress about this issue! That said, the Senate will be voting first and is likely our best bet for stopping the bill, so we have included below a short list of priority Senators. 

Additional Details

Even though conference report is not out, there are some details we already know. Some of the many controversial provisions in the House bill will not be in the final bill, including the elimination of the medical expense deduction, private activity bonds, and the student loan interest deduction. However, the bill will include the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which will result in 13 million people losing their insurance and skyrocketing premiums for everyone else. Additionally, the bill will add over $1 trillion to the deficit, which will have a direct impact on the amount of funding available for programs that are essential to us. The deficit increase will also trigger the PAYGO rule, which will force billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, Vocational Rehabilitation, and many other programs if Congress doesn’t take additional action. Moreover, we recently learned that the ABLE to Work Act was added to the tax bill as an amendment. This is a concerning bill that was hastily introduced under the guise of helping people contribute more to their ABLE accounts, but in reality the bill may actually increase the likelihood of an ABLE account holder losing their benefits. See this CCD co-chairs letter (PDF) for more information.

The GOP tax bill is dangerous for our community. Please take action today and participate in Monday’s Call-In Day!

Priority Senators:

  • Collins (Maine): 202-224-2523; 207-780-3575
  • Corker (Tennessee): 202-224-3344; 901-683-1910
  • Flake (Arizona): 202-224-4521; 602-840-1891
  • Rubio (Florida): 202-224-3041; 850-599-9100
  • Heller (Nevada): 202-224-6244; 775-686-5770

Comments

  1. Please help stop this bill. This tax bill will hurt people with disabilities: It dramatically cuts the revenue needed to fund Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, housing, and other services that benefit people with disabilitie. The estimated $1.5 trillion cut in revenue disproportionately benefits the wealthiest Americans and large corporations. Members of Congress who support this bill have already said that they next plan to make cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and other programs on which people with disabilities rely to address the federal deficit (which this bill increases by $1.5 trillion). The bill repeals the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that everyone have health insurance. This will cause premiums for people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions in the private market to increase, leaving health insurance unaffordable for millions. It also has provisions that directly hurt people with disabilities. For example, it reduces a tax credit that helps with the development of drugs for people with rare conditions. reality