Ken Calvert penned a rambling op-ed last week bragging about so-called “tax relief” for Americans in the GOP’s Big, Ugly Bill.
Coincidentally, he never mentions that the bill guts health care for nearly 40,000 people and slashes food access for over 30,000 households in his district. He also lied about the very clear fact that his “big beautiful” tax breaks are going to the wealthy few while working families foot the bill.
Repeatedly ranked as one of the most corrupt Members of Congress, Calvert can just admit that he wanted to help out his wealthy pals.
A Palm Springs resident went ahead and made that case.
The Press-Enterprise: Letter: Ken Calvert’s misleading claims about the GOP budget bill
- Ken Calvert needs to stop lying. Democrats haven’t opposed any tax cuts that support working families. The tax breaks he keeps bragging about… are all things Democrats have supported too.
- What Calvert fails to mention is that most of the things he’s bragging about are temporary. The no-tax provisions expire in 2028. The increased SALT deduction cap expires in 2030. The weird auto loan interest deduction? 2028. If these items are so important to Republicans, why not make them permanent? Maybe because they aren’t GOP priorities at all. They’re just gimmicks.
- So, what is permanent? The estate and gift tax exemption of $15 million won’t expire. Wow, just think of the help that offers working families! Corporate tax cuts? Permanent! Cutting funding for Affordable Care Act subsidies? That’s never coming back, so we can all look forward to a massive spike in insurance rates. Consider that one permanent too.
- The thing I find most interesting about Calvert’s totally disingenuous victory lap is that he doesn’t seem to be bragging about the $170 billion in funding he voted to allocate to ICE. Maybe he’s saving that celebration for the town hall scheduled for…checks notes…never.
- Meanwhile, Calvert is claiming…that the “Democrat Plan” didn’t support any of the tax breaks he’s celebrating. That is a lie. A hastily thrown-together chart cherry-picks elements of the GOP bill in a green column and contrasts them with a so-called “Democrat Plan” in red, claiming that Democrats supported a plan with no funding (zero!) for national defense. That’s another lie – and a comically implausible one. He also claims this mysterious, unseen plan would raise taxes by $4.5 trillion. Yet another lie.
- I actually called his office about the source of said chart and was told, “There’s no source per se”…
- At the end of Calvert’s recent op-ed, it says, “Ken Calvert represents California’s 41st congressional district.” Well, I live and vote in the 41st, and he certainly doesn’t represent me. Turns out it’s just another lie.
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