WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, issued the following statement today ahead of a JEC hearing with White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) Chairman Kevin Hassett:

“There is a great deal of work in front of us and I hope that today’s hearing can provide some perspective on the economic challenges and opportunities before policymakers. I am deeply concerned that the Trump administration has done little to support working families or build a stronger economy. Instead, the administration has turned its attention to a tax plan that will deliver significant tax cuts to the wealthy and force working families to foot the bill.

“Despite arguing that it’s too early for outside groups to assess the impacts of the tax plan, the White House’s CEA released its own report last week making the ridiculous claim that cutting the corporate tax rate would increase average household income by at least $4,000 each year. Even the economists cited in the report have criticized the findings, because it just doesn’t square with past experience or reality.

“We need tax and labor policies that reward hard work. We ought to prioritize tax programs that have proven to help family budgets and incentivize work, like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. What we’ve seen so far doesn’t meet that test. We all want to simplify the tax code and focus on pro-growth and pro-wage policies, but we shouldn’t rely on irresponsible estimates to justify giving tax breaks to the wealthy while leaving small businesses, families, and communities behind.”

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For more information, please contact Latoya Veal at Latoya_Veal@jec.senate.gov or 202-224-0379.