Neal: Delay Tax Bill Until Jones is Sworn In

WASHINGTON, DC – Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) today released the following statement calling for consideration of the tax bill to be delayed until Senator-elect Doug Jones (D-AL) is seated:

"Last night the people of Alabama spoke out against the Republican agenda. They chose policies that support working families, grow the economy, strengthen our healthcare system and lift up those aspiring to reach the middle-class over policies that reward the well-off and well-connected and further rig the system against American families. Alabamans deserve to have the representative they chose, not a political appointee, in place to vote on their behalf, particularly on a matter as critical as a tax bill that will affect every family, small business and worker in this country.

"This situation is not unprecedented. In 2010, during debate on the Affordable Care Act, my home state of Massachusetts elected Scott Brown in a special election to succeed Sen Ted Kennedy. Following that election, Democrats delayed final action on the ACA until Senator Brown could be seated. Quite simply, we did the right thing even when it wasn't in our best political interests. And, let us not forget the sham of an argument that was made by Senator McConnell when he, for more than a year, left a seat on the United States Supreme Court empty, stating simply that we should wait on the outcome of the presidential election to ensure that we were respecting the will of the American people. Senator McConnell doesn't get to have it both ways. Just as Senator McConnell wanted to respect the will of voters in Massachusetts in 2010 and the will of the American people in 2016, he must now respect the will of the voters in Alabama and stop consideration of the Republican tax bill until Senator-elect Jones is seated."

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