The Blue Dog Coalition announced its leadership positions Monday, Feb. 10, including U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, who will serve as co-chair.
The same day, the coalition sent a letter to the U.S. House Republican leadership asking for Congress to rework and pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
The Blue Dog Coalition is a caucus of self-described “financially conservative” Democrats, most of whom occupy seats in swing districts. Members often promote bipartisan legislation. The coalition currently has 10 members in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Seven of the coalition's members, including Gluesenkamp Perez, signed the letter sent to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri.
It proposed reducing the bill's contribution to the national deficit as well as reducing the benefits for people making more than $3.5 million and increasing the benefits to average Americans.
“The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that fully extending the TCJA would add an astonishing $4.6 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years after accounting for interest,” the letter stated. “Additionally, the Treasury Department found that an extension would disproportionately benefit the top 0.1% of earners (those earning over $3.5 million), saving them over $300,000 in tax bills every year.”
In a House of Representatives with razor thin margins — the Republicans hold the majority by just members — the coalition is using the letter to promote bipartisan budget work.
“Across our country, hardworking families are demanding effective representation that talks with them, not at them — and that serves the interests of our local communities, not lobbyists,” Gluesenkamp Perez stated in a news release. “As we see our farms and schools consolidate and family businesses get replaced with mega chains, most of us feel single-party control has not served our interests in rural America. Most politics feel either condescending or catastrophizing, with little interest in the nuance and depth that builds community. The antidote to gridlock and extremism is more public servants who are loyal to their constituents, rooted in where they’re from, and committed to getting shit done with independence and bipartisanship.”
The full letter can be read at tinyurl.com/3asmz4pn.
