ICYMI: Emily Seidel Talks Make-or-Break Moment for the GOP, Tax Certainty, and TCJA Renewal on the Ruthless Podcast
ARLINGTON, VA—Today, AFP President and CEO Emily Seidel joined the Ruthless podcast to discuss why passing a reconciliation bill that extends the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as soon as possible should be Washington’s top priority.
With Congress set to put pen to paper on the legislation, Seidel emphasized the urgent need to act before it’s too late, warning that delays could cost both politically and economically.
“I think it’s make-or-break for the Republicans in Washington, DC.” – AFP President and CEO Emily Seidel
Key Excerpts from the Interview:
On the importance of extending the TCJA and delivering for the American people:
“We made extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts our number one priority as an organization because we thought it was the most important thing to give people a shot at the American Dream. … In 2024 voters sent a Republican trifecta to Washington, DC to solve big problems in our country, and number one on that list was the economy. … They’re looking for this Congress and this administration to start chipping away at that problem and put some better solutions in place.”
The dangers of delay:
“By the time [the 2017 TCJA] passed, it was too late in the cycle for Americans to really understand the value of what had just happened. They didn’t get to see the economic impact before they started to make decisions about who they were going to vote for in the 2018 elections. And what happened? House Republicans lost 41 seats. The Speaker is smart to be harping on the dangers of a late bill because he doesn’t have that big of a margin …”
The idea of raising taxes and taking more of what people earn:
“If there are new lines of revenue or if they do choose to allow some people’s taxes to go back up, they are going to see the backlash from those constituencies, the business community … you’re not going to see all the economic benefits you could see from a full extension of the entirety of the tax reform from 2017.”
“We’ve got to just stay focused on getting the most pro-growth tax package possible in this reconciliation bill and get it done quickly so that the American people can feel the certainty to know that their taxes are not going to go up. So that business owners across the country, especially small business owners, know that they can rely on the rates they have today.”
The stories we hear over and over:
“As a grassroots organization, one of the privileges we have is to be able to hear from thousands of people across the country every day. … Small business owners in particular … they all have the same story. They either did one or both of the following things. They invested in their people through higher wages or bonuses. … Or investing in growing their business, adding new locations, adding better equipment. Having that kind of certainty to continue that kind of investment in our people and our economy is critical in this moment as we’re trying to recover from four years of Biden.”
The political stakes heading into the midterms:
“The party of the president loses on average 28 seats in a midterm election. Republicans in the House, in particular, have a huge task ahead of them to buck the historic norm. The only way they are going to do that is by passing a popular bill soon enough that people can start to act on it. Drive that consumer confidence, drive that business investment, and have that economy roaring back so people head into the midterms realizing that the people they sent to Washington in the last election got the job done. That’s what really matters.”
Moving quickly and the springboard of momentum:
“The benefit of moving this bill quickly – it will be a springboard for momentum for a ton of other legislative packages in Washington … There’s so much more that we can do and so getting this done quickly allows us to build momentum for those other things. The inverse is also true. If it drags out, if there’s a lot of infighting, you’re going to lose that momentum.”
Background:
Last month, AFP applauded the House and Senate passage of the budget resolution, the first step toward renewing the TCJA and passing the budget reconciliation package.
For Tax Day, AFP launched a new seven-figure ad buy and held over 60 events to rally the grassroots and encourage Congress to act on renewing the TCJA.
In February, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson joined AFP for a Congressional Conversation on his conservative principles and the path forward on budget reconciliation.
For more on why Congress should renew the TCJA, visit ProtectProsperity.com
