Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) Sunday accused President Trump of “going after critical jobs to save pennies,” saying he is doing so to “give big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.”
“He’s going after critical jobs to save pennies in order to give himself more room to give big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and the wealthiest corporations,” Booker said on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Booker said while former Presidents Clinton and Obama closed the annual deficit, Trump created “the biggest gulfs.”
“He is a profligate spender,” the New Jersey Democrat said of Trump. “And he does it all to give tax cuts to the wealthiest.”
Booker added that the biggest economic piece of legislation that Trump passed led to “a massive deficit” in order to give tax cuts to the wealthy “and our corporations who are doing well and don’t need that kind of tax cut.”
Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency, have introduced several initiatives aimed at reducing the federal workforce, implementing various strategies to terminate employees. These steps have faced legal challenges.
Meanwhile, Trump endorsed the House Republicans’ plan last week to move a bill that would combine immigration and energy policies with $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. A large part of that cost, per the GOP’s budget blueprint, would be offset by reductions in Medicaid spending.
The GOP’s budget resolution is set to be presented to the House this week.
In November last year, an analysis of the tax proposals proposed by Trump found they would amount to tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and tax increases for the majority of households.
The wealthiest 1 percent would see an average tax decrease of more than $36,000 while the bulk of lower quintiles of the population would face tax increases of around $1,500, said a study conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).
