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Maurice Rehming, owner of O’Neill Construction Group in Portland, OR

"At O'Neill Construction Group, we strive to create quality, living wage careers in construction for all our employees, especially people of color who have been traditionally shut out of careers in construction. We've been a fixture in our community for over 20 years and have grown from two employees to over 50.

"A large part of our business comes from public contracts. The recent tax changes reduce the SALT deductions, putting pressure on public budgets. Public budgets which are already stretched thin. Not only does this mean fewer public construction projects, and less business for my company, but it means we won't be able to repair our roads and bridges or modernize our schools. In Oregon, and all across the country, we have crumbling infrastructure like the Marquam Bridge. We need more public investment to repair the bridge, not less.

"If that's not bad enough, the rollbacks to the SALT deduction also make owning a home more expensive. This will lead to fewer new home purchases and renovation projects, depressing the housing market and hurting small contractors like us, and our crews of electricians, carpenters, painters, and masons.

"If we took the trillions of dollars in tax breaks multinational corporations are receiving and instead invested that money into infrastructure projects, we could repair the Marquam Bridge and make many more needed infrastructure upgrades."

Maurice Rahming is the co-owner of O'Neill Construction Group, a general contracting company located in Portland, Oregon, employing over 50 individuals. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Main Street Alliance of Oregon, a statewide network of small business owners.