AOC blasts Trump’s bill as ‘a deal with the devil’ as she gives emotional floor speech trying to stop its passage
Progressive congresswoman says legislation ‘militarizes our entire economy and it strips away healthcare and basic dignity of the American people’
Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York blasted President Donald Trump’s sweeping local tax bill, calling it a “deal with the devil” in an impassioned speech on the House floor.
The House resumed debate Wednesday on the Senate version of Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” In her speech, Ocasio-Cortez called one of Trump’s key campaign promises, the tax-free nature of tips, a “scam,” citing her former job as a bartender.
“On the tip tax, as one of the few people in this chamber who has lived off tips, I want to briefly explain the intricacies of this bill,” Ocasio-Cortez said, before clarifying that the provision sets an annual cap of $25,000. The bill does not provide a tax exemption for people earning more than $150,000 a year.
The congresswoman argued that the bill would raise taxes on low-income Americans. The law extends the tax cuts initially enacted in 2017, during Trump’s first term in office.
She then discussed the proposed cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance.
She said, “The cap is set at $25,000, while taxes increase for people earning less than $50,000 nationwide, their SNAP and Medicaid benefits are eliminated, and they are excluded from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicare expansions.” She added, “If you’re living at home on tips, you have to do the math. Is it worth it?” Losing all your health care, not being able to feed your children, not being able to put diapers on them, for what reason? This bill is a deal with the devil.”
According to a Siena College poll of 800 voters in Osaka-Cortez, New York, 52% to 28% believe Trump’s bill will make the majority of Americans worse off. Meanwhile, 61% of voters supported eliminating the income tax on tips, while 21% opposed it. Voters in the Empire State also supported, 48% to 32%, requiring able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid to work to receive their benefits. They also strongly oppose cutting corporate taxes and reducing SNAP benefits for the poor.
Osaka-Cortez told Republicans on Wednesday they should be “ashamed.” She added: “This is exploding our national debt. It’s weaponizing our entire economy. It’s stripping the American people of their health care and basic dignity—for what?” “Giving Elon Musk a tax break, allowing greedy billionaires to take over our nation. We cannot and will not tolerate this. You should be ashamed.”
