Ohio’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown sees a litany of immediate problems with the tax package Republicans have passed and President Trump plans to sign. But he says he has bigger concerns for the future. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze has more.
Brown acknowledges average middle-class families in Ohio will see tax cuts next year. But he maintains those will dissipate over the next few years. And he predicts Republicans will use a ballooning deficit to go after health, education and retirement programs many Ohioans rely on.
“It’s time to raise the eligibility age for Social Security, it’s time to privatize Medicare. They’ll go after Pell Grants, they’ll go after the CHIP program. It’s what they always do when they drive a huge hole in the budget deficit with their deficit spending. And then they come back and the people who have to pay for the tax cuts for the rich are middle class Americans in Zanesville and Mansfield.”
Ohio’s Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman was a key negotiator on the tax package, saying it makes much needed simplifications to the tax code and will spur economic growth.
