Waters Slams the Harmful 2018 Republican
Budget Would Gut Key Parts of Wall Street Reform to Pay for Tax Cuts

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today on the House floor, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, delivered remarks in strong opposition to the 2018 Republican budget.

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you Mr. Yarmuth.

I rise in strong opposition to the Republicans’ 2018 Budget, which would dramatically increase our deficit and debt by trillions of dollars to give millionaires and billionaires a massive tax cut. Don’t be fooled, this plan directly benefits President Trump, his family, and his administration, including Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, Education Secretary Devos, and Commerce Secretary Ross, but offers bread crumbs for the middle class, and nothing for lower income Americans.

The craziest thing about all of this is that Republicans have been crowing for seven years that the deficit is too large, and that it is hurting our job growth. And yet, here they go, abandoning their principles to cash out their rich benefactors.

I also want to talk about some of the ways Republicans partially pay for this tax cut for the rich.

During the same week that Equifax and Wells Fargo executives are testifying about the harm they’ve caused to millions of Americans, Republicans propose gutting the Consumer Bureau, which has successfully helped millions of our constituents receive compensation, by effectively eliminating its funding and independence.

What’s more, Republicans would eliminate the back-up authority to safely unwind failing megabanks without harming our economy. Rather than eliminate this tool, we should instead be talking about how to break up bad megabanks, like Wells Fargo, who repeatedly break the law and harm millions of consumers.

And yet, both the Consumer Bureau and the megabank wind-down authority are sacrificed to pay for the richest one percent’s tax cut.

I urge all of my colleagues to reject this measure.

I yield back.

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