Today, Senate Republicans voted to slash Medicaid, child nutrition programs, and other essential services while employing accounting tricks to obscure the true cost of their multi-trillion-dollar tax cuts for billionaires. In a strikingly unprecedented move, the legislation uses an accounting gimmick to treat the extension of expiring tax cuts as cost-free. However, a new estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation indicates that extending the 2017 Trump tax law would cost $5.5 trillion with interest over the next decade—or $4.6 trillion without interest.

“Republican Senators are gaslighting their constituents by pretending they aren’t cutting benefits for Medicaid or SNAP and that it costs nothing to make one of the most reckless giveaways to billionaires permanent – while the result is that millions of Americans will be paying higher prices on everything from health care to food,” said David Kass, ATF Executive Director. “Senate Republicans know their numbers don’t add up—the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation analysis shows Trump’s tax plan will balloon the national debt while billionaires rake in trillions in tax breaks. They want to cut critical programs that workers and families depend on to pay for it, while driving up our costs. Despite their blatant lies, the message is clear: Trump and Congressional Republicans are prioritizing billionaires over their constituents.”