Dear Editor:
As a person of faith, I have deep concerns about the current tax overhaul bill before Congress. I fear that the most vulnerable in our nation will be bearing an unfair burden. After the Senate passed its version of the bill, Michael Gerson wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post in which he called out Senate Republicans for voting against the Rubio-Lee amendment to the child tax credit. He argued that they ignored the economic needs of the blue-collar voters who put Trump in office. Mr. Gerson, himself a Republican, noted the symbolism of a tax bill that gave a "break to private jet owners, but refused to increase the corporate rate by 0.94 percentage points to cover the cost of helping an estimated 12 million working-class families." Gerson didn't spare the Democrats, either, who had an opportunity to help improve the tax bill, but instead voted overwhelmingly against the amendment. On both sides of the aisle, this was Washington politics at its worst.
But on the bright side, here in Missouri, both of our U.S. senators, Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill, voted for the Rubio-Lee amendment, which would directly benefit low and middle-income families with children. And what Gerson failed to mention is that even though it was defeated in the Senate, there is still an opportunity for the amendment to be included in the final tax bill. Our senators supported the amendment, and we need them to continue to support it "vocally" if there's any chance it will be added to the bill before the president signs it. As Gerson says, this is "good policy and politics," and it should be a win-win for both the "family friendly" Republican party and the "economic justice" focused Democratic party.
Please join me in thanking Sens. Blunt and McCaskill for voting for the Rubio-Lee amendment and calling on them to maintain their support of this pro-family amendment.