Thompson Opening Statement at Tax Subcommittee Hearing on the Big, Ugly, Law
(As prepared for delivery)
Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today’s hearing.
We cannot ignore what has become one of the most disturbing abuses of taxpayer dollars and public trust we have seen in recent memory.
Many of our witnesses are here today to talk about their paychecks and their tax dollars.
And on Monday, we learned that the President of the United States, President Trump, intends to take OUR tax dollars, and hand them to his political allies, including those who rioted in our Capitol on January 6th. $1.8 billion dollars of the American people’s tax dollars.
That’s right: while working families are struggling to pay their bills, powerful people connected with this Administration appear poised to profit from taxpayer-backed settlements.
That is outrageous.
Americans are dealing with a real cost-of-living crisis. Families are paying more for groceries, more for rent, more for healthcare, more for childcare, and more for basic necessities.
At the same time Republicans cut $1 trillion in healthcare funding that will force rural hospitals to close, put seniors out of nursing homes, and kick working families off their healthcare.
They say we have to make those cuts because the country supposedly cannot afford healthcare for ordinary Americans.
And at the very same time Republicans are telling Americans we “cannot afford” Medicaid, food assistance, and healthcare for working families, somehow they found $1.8 billion for a political payout fund for Trump allies.
This administration was elected on the promises to lower costs for the American people.
Yet I don’t recall any campaign promises to hand millions of dollars to people who beat the hell out of cops on January 6th.
But that’s what they got.
A huge slush fund for Trump and his DOJ to hand out money to insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who sought to overthrow our democracy.
This is a DOJ that pardoned January 6th rioters, targets the Administration’s political opponents, and is led by the President’s former personal attorney.
And the silence from my Republican colleagues is shocking. No outrage. No oversight. No concern about a breathtaking conflict of interest involving taxpayer dollars.
Instead, I can tell you what we’re going to hear from them. Anything that will distract you from the elephant in the room, the fact that the President is stealing your money.
But the American people are watching.
This should not be partisan: taxpayer dollars should never be used to reward political allies or personally benefit those in power.
The American people are tired of watching politicians talk about fiscal responsibility and then sit idly by while taxpayer dollars are raided with no Congressional authorization.
That is why Democrats on this Committee are demanding transparency and accountability.
Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the amicus brief submitted by Democrats on Ways and Means and the Judiciary Committee seeking to halt this settlement so that Congress and the American people can see the illegality of this.
I also ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the text of the SLUSH FUND Act, legislation introduced by Ways and Means Democrats that would impose a 100 percent tax on any payments distributed from this fund and require Treasury to publicly disclose who receives the money.
The American people deserve to know who is benefiting from it.
And the American people should get every cent of it back.
And I would ask my Republican colleagues, should our tax dollars go towards January 6th rioters and insurrections. If not, then why not markup this legislation tomorrow, or at the very least, who would join us in cosponsoring this bill?
Why not stand before the American people and defend these payments publicly?
Taxpayer dollars should never become a political slush fund for the politically connected.
I yield back.
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