Trump and Congressional Republicans Are Launching a “Contract Against America” and “GOP Tax Scam”

It has only been a little over 72 hours since his inauguration but it should be clear to everyone in the country, including the many uninformed people (drawn to big lies on cultural wedge issues,) who voted for him, that Donald Trump and his MAGA allies in his Administration and Congress do indeed have an America First Agenda.

It is just not an agenda that puts Middle and Working Class Families first.

It is a plutocratic first agenda that aims to restore the Gilded Age where only the wealthy dictated policy and everyone else should just be happy with the crumbs left over.

In other words, Trickle Down Economics on Steroids.

The American Duce’s Treasury and Office of Budget and Management Nominees (the latter of whom is one of the major authors of Project 2025, the document all people in the know warned about and whose contents Trump is looking to memorialize through his avalanche of executive orders and legislative proposals,) testified at their confirmation hearings that tax cuts for the rich, spending decreases for programs that help the vulnerable paired with working requirements for the disadvantaged to jump hurdles to qualify for, and not raising the minimum wage are on their wish list for the coming fiscal year.

In his confirmation hearing, Treasury Nominee and out-of-touch, despite his claims, with Main Street billionaire Scott Bessent voiced his commitment to continuing and expanding the Trump tax cuts, contending spending, not revenue, is the problem.

He also conveyed his opposition to raising the minimum wage, asserting that was an issue best left to the states.

The Budget Office Nominee and Project 2025 author Russell Vought offered testimony that discredited workplace requirements to receive Medicaid is justifiable, abortion should be abolished, even in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother, and could not explain why in his writings and proposals, getting food stamps is an example of wokeism.

It seems, given the fiscal track record of Mr. Trump and earlier Republican Administrations, these two individuals fit right in with Republican Trickle Down dogma.

Added to these two nominees’ remarks, Republicans have been leaking trial balloons on what they may cut from the budget to pay for MAGA’s wish list of extending and expanding the Trump tax cuts and immigration policies.

In reporting from the New York Times, Republicans have published a 50-page document listing potential programs for the chopping block and others for greater tax cuts. High on the hit list is Medicaid, the health care program for the poor. Other items on the MAGA wish list are:

  • Cutting back on Obamacare/Affordable Care Act subsidized for the Middle Class and Dreamers
  • Repealing many of the clean energy tax credits of the Inflation Reduction Act while expanding opportunities for increased fossil fuel drilling and exploration.
  • Eliminate the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction.
  • Eliminate Credit for Child and Dependent Care.
  • Eliminate Deduction of Interest on Student Loans and cut back on who qualifies for loan forgiveness.
  • Eliminate the Estate Tax that would benefit only the heirs of the extremely wealthy like the Trump children.
  • Lower the Corporate Tax Rate to 20 percent.
  • Take away the I.R.S. enforcement funding.
  • Cutting back on the Earned Income Tax Credit.
  • Eliminate supplemental funding for foster care and impose work requirements for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.)
  • Implement work requirements for people to qualify for Medicaid and food stamps.
  • Capping the costs of Pell Grants.
  • Eliminate funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

On Vought’s nomination, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer voiced his opposition, saying “He was at the top of the list in terms of how dangerous he is to working people and to America. Mr. Vought is the Godfather of the ultra-right. He is the chief cook and bottle washer for Project 2025 which would decimate the lives of so many Americans” by eliminating programs like Head Start and $35.00 for senior purchasing of insulin.

Schumer called these Vought ideas “A parade of horribles.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries framed the MAGA Republican tax and budget proposals more effectively, calling them the “Contract Against America, ” “The GOP Tax Scam,” and “Government by the Billionaires and for the Billionaires.”

Saying “The Republicans can no longer hide their intentions from the American People,” on their Project 2025 designs, Jeffries went on to say:

“Their extreme budget plan…is a Contract against America. It will hurt working families. Hurt the Middle Class. Hurt our children. Hurt our seniors and hurt our veterans. The House Republican Contract against America will end Medicaid as we know it, destroy the Affordable Care Act, and eliminate the Mortgage Interest Deduction which will raise costs on tens of millions of Working and Middle-Class Americans. The House Republican Contract against America is an extreme plan that will not lower costs for everyday Americans. It will make our country more expensive. House Democrats will oppose this extreme Contract against America and we will push back against it on behalf of everyday Americans with every fiber in our body.”

While opposing this “Contract Against America” and “GOP Tax Scam” is right and proper, Democrats should also put forth their own agenda that will lower costs for American Families and lift them up while also being fiscally prudent. Championing a living wage should be one component of such a program. Increasing the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits along with free community college could be other features. Even tax cut proposals in the MAGA plan like reducing the tax on tips and overtime could be included in such a Democratic program because working and middle-class families will see those benefits right away.


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