So in order to fund the Democrats
reconciliation plan to pass
the quote, human infrastructure
portion of their plan, the plan is
to put some tax hikes on
the richest and also corporations,
which is a sticking point for
many Republicans.
You could have guessed that, but
a new analysis by the government
watchdog group Accountable.US
breaks down just how personal this
is for those elected officials.
So let's jump right into it.
So this was provided exclusively to
Common Dreams who wrote about this.
The report spotlights a total of
125 lawmakers who make up what
Accountable.US dubs as the quote,
Republican Millionaires Caucus.
It's a group characterized as
hell-bent on preserving Trump era
tax cuts that overwhelmingly
benefit the wealthiest individuals,
including themselves.
[COUGH] So, Accountable.US goes on
to say that they found that
two thirds of GOP senators and
more than 40% of House Republicans
are millionaires who stand to
personally benefit from extracting
tax hikes on the wealthy proposed
under the Senate Democrats
reconciliation package.
And of course, that package was
proposed $3.5 trillion.
And Congressional Republicans folks
are also mad
about that price tag and
we've seen a couple of moderates
that were also not on board.
Democrats are not on board as well.
But Congressional Republicans have
repeatedly made clear that they
view any rollback of the Trump tax
cuts, which slashed both
the corporate tax rate and the top
individual rate as a red line that
they're unwilling to cross.
So as such the GOP is expected to
unanimously oppose the Democrats'
sweeping reconciliation bill.
So Mitch McConnell also spoke about
a little bit how it's
a non starter.
He said, in just a few days,
our colleagues
will start ramming through yet
another reckless taxing and
spending spree, is what he said.
And he complained about that from
the Senate floor.
So one more piece on who
Mitch McConnell is in case you guys
don't know and why he may have
a vested interest in this.
Mitch McConnell, whose net worth is
estimated to be around $34 million,
is one of the Republican
lawmakers that is highlighted in
this Accountable.US analysis.
It notes that quote many members
from the Millionaires Caucus
already have histories of flaunting
their wealth or
shamelessly violating the public
trust to serve their own interest.
And I know a lot of maybe many
people are watching this and going,
of course, this is just how it is.
I won't do Cenk, but of course.
[LAUGH] >> This is just how it is
and maybe it makes some sense.
So when you're thinking about who
represents you and the reasons why
they maybe pass the laws or oppose
certain laws that they oppose is
because they have lived experience.
Mitch McConnell does not want his
tax rate to go up, back up to maybe
a normal pay your fair share amount
after the Trump taxes, which we
know how much they fought tooth and
nail to get across the line.
Similarly, there's some Democrats
who've had other lived experiences
and they fight for those folks that
they've known have experienced the
things that they've experienced.
And when they're in a position of
some kind of elected office, they
want to do something else about it.
The example here is
representative Cori Bush.
Let's see what she was doing
because of her lived experience.
>> Congresswoman, why was it so
important for
you to be out here tonight?
>> I had to be out here because if
there was anything else that I
could do to make sure that people
just didn't end up on the street,
that people just didn't end up
the children, our elders, veterans,
so many different people ended up
on the street because of a policy
decision.
I had to stand up because I know
what it's like,
when it gets too cold at night,
there's no amount of blankets that
can cover you up to make you warm.
If it's too hot, there's not enough
wind to keep you cool.
I know what it's like to not have
a place to use the bathroom, place
to cook food, to prepare food,
a place to groom yourself.
I know what it's like.
>> I see the tears in your eyes,
this is personal for you.
>> Yes, yes, it's personal for me.
I lived in a car.
I lived out of a car with two
babies and my partner,
I know what that's like.
And I will not sit by and
allow it to happen to other people
because it happened to me, I won't.
I will show up and I will speak up.
>> That's a representative that is
fighting for
our constituents that are well on
the brink of being where she was.
And that's what she
knows what's happening.
So before we open this up, I just
want to point out two more elected
officials, one Senator and one
Congressman, who are also living
through their own experiences.
Senator Rick Scott,
this is awesome common dreams.
Senator Rick Scott, who has
been worth $91.75 million and
abandoned his promise to put his
assets in a blind trust when
he was elected as senator
expedited approval of a pipeline
that benefited his investments
while he was Florida's governor.
And he also enjoyed a 33% increase
in wealth during his first
year as a US senator.
Lastly, Representative Darrel Issa
has a net worth of 250 million.
And he's repeatedly used his office
for personal gain,
including arranging an $800,000 in
earmarks to boost his real estate
value by 60%.
Attacking the Treasury Department's
forced sale of Merrill Lynch after
the firm handed over a billion
dollars in transactions for him.
And he repeatedly worked to benefit
his auto electronics firm from his
position of power.
These folks I mean,
I guess they do get some
kind of push back and anger and
energy from regular Americans, but
you just don't hear it as much.
Because we're supposed to respect
the wealthy and
when they say something about what
they want to do with legislation
that helps them, those two things
just don't connect for some reason.
>> Here's the reason, the media,
they never call out these guys
are wealthy and gave themselves
a tax cut under Trump.
And now of course are fighting
a tax cut.
Why? because they don't want
the tax increase because they don't
want pay more.
The media finds that outrageous to
report.
It's ridiculous.
By the way, Rick Scott has another
lived experience, he's a criminal.
He executed the largest Medicare
fraud in American history.
And the Democrats are so weak they
let a win three massive elections
after he hit that $91 million,
he stole a lot of that money.
Now he says,
as a CEO, I didn't know that my
company was committing the largest
Medicare fraud in history.
Golly gee, so
I'm not technically a criminal.
My company got convicted, but
not me, right?
So that's how this works.
So he thinks, well,
I stole my way to wealth, why would
I continue to steal as a senator?
So I steal from the average
taxpayer and
I make sure my taxes get cut.
That's the experience I learned
from Cori Bush
helping people not get evicted so
that average Americans, those sleep
on the street, what a hell would
care about that, let's go rob them.
That's who Rick Scott is.
And by the way a lot of democrats
are, there is this this article
doesn't talk about it, but a lot of
Democrats are also millionaires.
Feinstein is incredibly wealthy and
by the way voted for
Bush's tax cuts for
the rich, which were twice the size
of Trump's tax cuts for the rich.
Nancy Pelosi is incredibly wealthy.
And all of them work with Joe Biden
when Obama was president to make
Bush's massive tax cuts for
the rich, permanent.
And that's how this game is played.
Here I'll give you one more set of
facts.
Now you might say, look, but
Cenk and JR, you guys, okay?
Cori Bush lived that,
Rick Scott lived out the thing, but
what are the American people think?
Maybe the Republicans are right,
the American people love
corporations and the wealthy and
they don't want those poor guys,
[LAUGH] >> No, literally not poor,
but those poor guys to get any tax
increases.
Well, that's a good thing
somebody did a poll on this.
They've actually done many polls.
Well this is the most recent.
So do you want the capital gains
tax increase?
I'm sorry,
you want the corporate tax rate
increased from 21 to 28, right?
By the way it was 35, not 28.
So do you want an increase in that?
Yeah, that only wins by 38 points.
Among Americans that's 64 to 26.
It even basically ties with
Republicans.
So even half the Republicans were
like, yeah, that sounds good,
they should increase the taxes for
corporations.
But wait, it gets better,
how about raising taxes for
people making about 400,000?
Well, that doesn't win by 38.
It was by 44 points.
And that one has a plurality of
Republicans going yeah, yeah, raise
their taxes, do it right away.
That is 49 to 41 among Republicans
saying yes, for God's sake raise
taxes on the rich, right?
And all the Republican senators go,
do our voters want it?
[LAUGH] But they're not
here, are they?
Us millionaires are here, so
we're going to vote no,
even against our own voters.
Same thing on capital gains tax was
by 43 points, 49 to 40 among
Republicans saying yes,
increase the capital gains tax.
And finally,
should we have IRS enforce the laws
better against the wealthy so
they actually pay their fair share?
You're not going to be surprised,
whizzed by 44 points overall.
And yes, a plurality of Republicans
on that one as well.
48 to 38 Republican voters saying,
for God's sake, make the rich pay
their fair share, but
the rich are already in Congress.
So it reminds me of that old
saying, I think it was one of these
old bank robbers,
I forget if it was Dylan Jr or not.
So why do you rob banks?
And he said,
because that's where the money is.
Why did Rick Scott and the corrupt
republicans go to Senate?
because that's where the money is.
That you've set the rules for
how much money you could have,
how much money you can keep, etc.
They went to the Senate, not to
serve them American taxpayer, but
to rob the American taxpayer.
Adrienne.
>> I find it absolutely astonishing
how so many commenters, average
folk like you and me continue to
vote these people into positions of
power knowing that they are so
willing to steal to set themselves
up so that they are beneficiaries
and that they continue to make
money off of our backs.
The fact that we have what,
two thirds of Republican senators,
over 40% of US Republican House
members who stand to benefit.
And will continue to ensure that
they benefit despite all of our
labor and hard work it's wild.
But when we realize how many people
are brainwashed to this thought
that capitalism is definitely king
and will continue to support it.
But also coming out of this
pandemic where US billionaires
became about 1.2 trillion richer
during the pandemic.
It was an average of 54% richer for
each of them and nearly 500 people
became billionaires during 2020.
It's just astonishing to me,
especially seeing so many
of us struggling, that people will
continue to vote these people into
positions of power only so that
they can continue to steal from us.
>> Yeah, and by the way, guys,
on capitalism, there's plenty of
great arguments against it.
There's some arguments for,
we're getting into that debate.
No part of capitalism as it was
originally constructed and
as a theoretically ideal and
I don't know that it's ever been
done ideally,
ever said, by the way you should
let rich people buy the government.
Adam Smith didn't say that.
Thomas Jefferson didn't say that.
Nobody said that, right?
In fact, our founding fathers,
if you read them and trust me that
they're made many mistakes, right?
To say the least.
But on the issue of corporations,
and all this they said watch out
for the corporations.
They remember the revolution
started with the Boston Tea Party.
And it was the British East India
company's tea that they threw in
the heartbreak because they
hated that company,
they despised that company.
And they warned over and
over again,
the rich will try to rob you.
[LAUGH] Oops, [LAUGH] okay.
So the system was not supposed
to go this way.
And it got taken over by the greedy
and unfortunately the rest of us
allowed it.
But the most important part is that
most of you don't know to
fight back.
I mean, if you're watching
Young Turks, you probably do, but
most of the American people because
mainstream media says, yeah, yeah,
the Millionaire
should be in Congress.
When Cori Bush was running,
the media hated her, right?
They're like, the Democratic
incumbent is doing a great job and
he's going to bring more things to
the district.
And this Cori Bush, she's coming in
here running against a member of
the Congressional Black Caucus as
if she isn't black, right?
And so how dare she do that?
And it was yes, Democrats, but
totally aided and
abetted by the media.
They just did it to the attorney.
They do it every time.
And so, yeah,
they're the ones who tell you that
this system is perfectly great and
we should protect the status quo.
Now this system sucks, and we have
to change it as soon possible.
>> The problems that they have with
the system and it also
goes to your point Adrienne.
The things that are problem with
the system are Dr.
Seuss, pro life versus pro choice.
There was religion, LGBTQ,
trans folks in bathrooms,
girls on sports teams, and
who they deem that aren't girls.
[COUGH] Policing, guns,
COVID, masks, and vaccines.
These are the things that they're
telling Americans that
are important issues that they need
to be fighting over
while they're sitting up at
the top collecting money.
And in fact making people fight
over this and collecting money
from the same arguments.
Donald Trump is touring the country
along with, not with him, but
in the same way that Matt Gaetz and
Marjorie Taylor Green are all
touring the country to get money
off of these ridiculous issues that
they have no care about.
It's why when you ask them, if
we're going to talk about COVID and
masks, so are vaccinated?
And then Matt and Taylor Green
decides to say things like, well,
that's violation of my HIPAA
rights because they are vaccinated.
But they can't let you in on that
little secret because you might go,
you mean this is a non issue?
Okay, well, let's maybe talk about
how much money you're
stealing from me and
they never want you to get there.
They're going to keep you arguing
amongst yourselves about these
issues while they go and
take the money.
>> 100% right.
Yes, see how many stories you'll
find in mainstream media about
economic populism,
rconomic clashes, economic issues.
You remember how the media was
outraged that they took $15 minimum
wage out of the COVID relief bill?
All right, I don't remember
that either.
[LAUGH] >> because that would have
affected you go back to debating
mass and LGBTQ issues,
which by the way are important, but
economic issues are also important.
>> Yeah, I mean, I guess that's,
it can easily be misconstrued and
lenient, those aren't useful
debates to have.
The problem is the debates come
from the constituents, or
at least the followers of these
politicians that tell them to start
fighting over this,
that there's a problem now.
>> Yeah. >> The gays
are coming for you.
The black folks are coming for you.
The immigrants are coming for you.
It's just always something else
that you have to divert your
attention to while they go and
take everything from you.
>> 100%, I'll finish here
as an analogy as we are having
a legitimate fight in front of
the bank about things that matter,
like racism, it's homophobia, etc.
They went around the back of
the bank and robbed the place blind
while we were distracted.
So we can have those fights or
we should have those fights, but
let's all focus for
a second on the robbery, so
we can end that first.