The Republican bill signed into law in July lowered taxes for billionaires to a rate far below that paid by ordinary Americans. (On average, billionaires will pay just 22 percent; most of us pay around 30 percent.) 

Tax cuts for corporations and the richest among us will add $3 trillion to the national debt and require deep cuts to essential services. Tax credits that currently make health insurance affordable for many Americans will be stripped away by the end of the year. Insurance premiums will increase by thousands of dollars, and an estimated 10 million Americans will lose their health insurance altogether.

Democrats are insisting that the tax credits that make health insurance affordable be kept in place. Republicans have chosen to shut down the government rather than provide this essential support for ordinary Americans.

Bruce Ferguson
Callicoon Center, NY