Today, Republicans showed yet again that deficits only matter to them when it comes to slashing social programs. When it comes to new tax cuts, they don't mind increasing the deficit because draining money out of the federal government is something they love to do.
Today's bill was the so-called "State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act," which would make permanent--without offset--the current tax extender giving individual taxpayers an option to deduct state and local sales taxes (rather than state and local income taxes) when calculating their taxable income.
Only people in seven states would really benefit from this: the 7 states with no income tax (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming) and the 2 states with only an investment income tax (Tennessee, New Hampshire).
The bill would add $42 billion to the deficit over the next ten years.
It passed 272 to 152.
Only 1 Republican--Walter Jones (NC-03)--voted against it.
34 Democrats bucked the party leadership and voted for it:
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Corrine Brown (FL-05)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Kathy Castor (FL-14)
Joaquin Castro (TX-20)
Steve Cohen (TN-09)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Ted Deutch (FL-21)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Alan Grayson (FL-09)
Al Green (TX-09)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Alcee Hastings (FL-20)
Denny Heck (WA-10)
Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Anne McLane Kuster (NH-02)
Rick Larsen (WA-02)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Beto O’Rourke (TX-16)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Eric Swalwell (CA-15)
Dina Titus (NV-01)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23)
Most of the 34 hail from one of the states listed above. The exceptions are these 11:
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Corrine Brown (FL-05)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Eric Swalwell (CA-15)