Some Democrats are beginning to realize attacking the GOP tax law is not a winning strategy heading into the 2018 midterm elections. The law is helping the vast majority of American taxpayers and U.S. businesses and is becoming increasingly popular in polling. Thus, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi repeatedly dismissing the bonuses many companies are giving their employees as “crumbs” is not helpful, and these five Democrats are saying something about it.
- Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)‘: “I would not describe it as crumbs,” Ellison told Business Insider. ‘The income inequality is so bad that if you could pick up 1,000 or 900 bucks, maybe it helps.”
- Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: “I recognize that something was in there. And where I come from, anything makes a difference,” Luján told CNN.
- Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX): “‘I would not use crumbs personally, and I think a lot of Blue Dogs would not use crumbs,” Cuellar told Politico.
- Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO): “Language is important, and we have to be very careful that we don’t insult people by saying that the amount of money they get is crumbs,” Cleaver told Politico. “We cannot be seen as patricians.”
- John Yarmuth (D-KY): “I would say it differently,” Yarmuth told the Washington Examiner. “I wouldn’t say a couple thousand dollars a year is ‘crumbs.'” (Axios)
Pelosi is even being heckled at town hall events. As she was blasting President Trump and the GOP tax cuts, saying that “God never intended one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth while others live in abject deadening poverty,” noting that the quote was from Dr. Martin Luther King, one woman demanded to know if Pelosi was “in abject poverty.”
“How much are you worth, Nancy?” the woman asked. Pelosi and her husband are worth roughly $100 million. Perhaps that has something to do with why she considers the bonuses “crumbs.”
