The Democratic National Committee unveiled a new website Wednesday to highlight what it says are the costs of Republicans’ sweeping tax and spending package, seeking to show how the law will affect Americans’ energy bills, health insurance coverage and paychecks.
The website, the details of which were shared first with CQ Roll Call, comes as Democrats and Republicans race to define the law, which is expected to be a focal point of both parties’ messaging going into next year’s midterm elections.
“The Trump Tax is the largest redistribution of wealth and the largest cut to health care in American history,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “While Trump steers the US economy toward a financial crisis, the Trump Tax is shuttering hospitals and nursing homes, skyrocketing energy bills, and exploding the deficit.”
The DNC is supporting the website, which launches just days before Trump’s second term hits the six-month mark, with five-figure spending on digital ads that will target battleground states and states with high rural populations. The investment will also fund billboards outside places where rural hospitals have shut down or are planning to shut down.
Andrew Bates, a Democratic consultant who worked with the DNC on the project, said that despite Trump’s promise to lower costs, “the biggest tax increase on working Americans since the Great Depression is crushing everyday families to fund tax giveaways to the rich.”
Democrats argue that the new law, along with the Trump administration’s tariff policies, are raising costs for most Americans while benefiting the richest 10 percent of the country.
Martin said that the website is meant “to show Americans the dire effects of Trump’s policies nationally and in all 50 states.”
On the website, users can access information about how the law is estimated to affect each state, according to Democrats. For example, it says that over 453,000 Michiganders would lose health insurance under the law, citing Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee. It also highlights the number of people in the state estimated to lose food assistance, according to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and their jobs, according to the BlueGreen Alliance.
The site also looks at how many rural hospitals in each state are at risk of closing. Democrats in recent weeks have emphasized the law’s potential impact on Medicaid and rural hospitals. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently launched its own online ads with a focus on rural hospitals against the 35 House Republicans on its target list.
The new website also looks at how the Trump administration’s tariff policies have affected businesses in each state and at estimates of how their residents’ electricity bills could increase.
Republicans have sought to win public support for the law, which the House and Senate narrowly passed earlier this month and Trump signed in a July 4 White House ceremony. The National Republican Congressional Committee announced a paid ad campaign on Tuesday.
“Republicans took action with President Trump to make America more affordable again, passing a Working Families Tax Cut, saving families thousands a year. Plus, no tax on tips and a tax cut on Social Security, benefiting workers and seniors,” the NRCC ad says.
House Republicans held a “media row” with reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday to tout the measure’s benefits.
Texas Rep. Randy Weber said it was important to emphasize how the law would extend the 2017 tax cuts and boost the child tax credit. The law will be Republicans’ top agenda item ahead of the midterm campaign, he said.
“They’re already seeing prices coming down. The tax cuts are going to be there. We’re going to be making more energy,” Weber said.
The post DNC launches new website to highlight costs of GOP tax and spending package appeared first on Roll Call.
