“Political survival” – Rep. Cramer admits the real reason for his vote to hike taxes on working and middle-class North Dakotans

(BISMARCK, ND) – This week, Rep. Kevin Cramer voted for the House Republican tax bill, a measure that would give massive benefits to the wealthiest Americans, while increasing taxes on low- and middle-income earners in North Dakota.

Under Cramer’s tax bill, working North Dakotans with incomes between $10,000 – $40,000 would see their income taxes increase from $111 to $1,235 per year by 2025 [Source on Page 6].

After the vote, Cramer called this “a historic moment for the middle class,” but on Friday, he spilled the real reasons behind his rushed vote on a massive re-write of the tax code, without waiting for a full Congressional Budget Office score.

“Political survival depends on us doing this,” he told the Associated Press, conceding that House Republicans are desperate to demonstrate they can pass something – anything – through Congress and into law. “One of the things that scares me a little bit is that they’re going to screw up the bill to the point we can’t pass it,” he said, referring to the prospects for the GOP’s tax agenda in the U.S. Senate.

Cramer joins the company of his Republican colleague from New York, who admitted that the real reason to pass tax reform was politics and the fear of losing wealthy donors.

“This week, Congressman Cramer voted to hike taxes on North Dakotans who work hard each day to put food on their tables and maintain a comfortable standard of living,” said Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil. “If Cramer’s vote had truly been about getting the policy right, he would have demanded this bill go through the normal legislative process, with careful consideration of the consequences for all North Dakotans. But this was about politics, and so Kevin Cramer once again put special interests and lobbyists in Washington, D.C., ahead of North Dakota families. The swamp just got deeper with Kevin Cramer’s vote.”