Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise addressed the House Floor before a vote on a significant reconciliation package proposed by Republicans. The bill focuses on alleviating financial burdens for working families by eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, while also making tax cuts permanent.
Scalise emphasized that voting against this package would effectively be supporting tax increases on Americans. He stated, “Any restaurant you go to, talk to the waiters and waitresses. Ask them about their hopes and dreams. Ask them about their families. And what would they do with just a little bit more money in their paycheck? Do you know, Mr. Speaker, that big provision that every Democrat is going to vote against, the average tip worker makes $32,000 a year.”
He criticized Democrats for opposing the bill and suggested they are using class warfare tactics as a political strategy. Scalise continued, “They’ve got to create some fake boogie man that they can point to and say, ‘Gee, whiz, look at the billionaire over there.’ As if class warfare, dividing Americans is their way to try to get more power in Washington.”
Scalise urged Congress to empower struggling Americans rather than concentrating power in Washington: “How about we give people in America more power? Take it away from Washington. Empower the people in this country who have been struggling for too long.”
The majority leader linked the legislation’s goals with former President Trump’s promise of renewing the American dream: “If you want to live the American dream, it can still exist…President Trump ran and said ‘I will renew that promise.’ But it only happens if Congress delivers.”
