Ouch! Rangel: Preserve Millionaire Tax Cuts, Consider Soc. Security Cuts, Pass More Free Trade Pacts [View All]

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Rangel: Preserve Millionaire Tax Cuts, Consider Soc. Security Cuts, Pass More Free Trade Pacts
David Sirota on Charlie Rangel

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) represents one of the poorest congressional districts in New York City. He also chairs the House Ways and Means Committee - the panel that oversees taxes and entitlements. This combination would lead the casual observer to think that Rangel, trying to represent his district, would be aggressively using his chairmanship to redirect President Bush’s tax cuts to lower-income people, strengthen and even expand Social Security and renegotiate trade deals to protect American jobs. But, no. That’s not what appears to be happening. In the weeks after the congressional election, Rangel has expressed interest in doing the exact opposite: preserving President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy; considering Social Security benefit cuts and retirement age hikes; and supporting lobbyist-written trade pacts that have no wage, environmental or human rights protections in them. He has, in other words, moved to side firmly with the Money Party against the People Party.

Think this is hyperbole? Let’s let Rangel speak for himself. At the same time leading conservative Republican commentators like Ben Stein are saying it’s time to raise taxes on the rich to pay for the war and the deficit, here’s Rangel in the New York Observer yesterday, defending tax cuts to millionaires and falsely claiming Democrats never talked about repealing those tax cuts:

“Here he is, suggesting to a business-minded audience that no Democrat ever campaigned in 2006 on the issue of rolling back Bush’s tax cuts. ‘How many people heard the Democrats say they were going to roll back the tax cuts for the rich? I didn’t hear it, and I listen very carefully…I personally believe that repealing tax cuts that are locked into place, that people have depended on these tax cuts, invested in these tax cuts, not only is it bad tax policy to repeal it retroactively, but it’s dumb politics to do it especially when it’s going to get vetoed. Forget about it.’”

David Sirota on Charlie Rangel