Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

By Scott Baba

HOST: Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California proposed a concurrent resolution seeking to limit the use of tariffs to offset trillions of dollars in tax cuts in the Republican-crafted reconciliation funding bill.

PADILLA: My resolution would simply require that they be transparent with the American people. It would require that any tariff used to offset tax cuts for the wealthy must be explicitly written into the text of the Republican reconciliation bill. If Republicans want to increase prices on hard working Americans to give handouts to billionaires, then own it. You should not be allowed to hide behind President Trump as you do it.

HOST: Padilla criticized President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, warning they would increase costs for working families.

PADILLA: Let’s be clear: a tariff is a tax on the American people. Plain and simple, Trump’s tariffs equate to the biggest tax hike on Americans in decades because the way tariffs work is this: American companies will have to pay more to import goods, and in turn, the American people will have to pay more to buy those products.

HOST: At the same time, Padilla accused Republican legislators of trying to use the money brought in from tariffs to obscure the scope of tax cuts being offered to wealthy Americans.

PADILLA: The latest number as the proposals continue to evolve is $5.3 trillion in tax breaks for the wealthy. It’s clearly the number one priority for Republicans. Well, to do that, to pay for that, working families are just going to have to work harder? The same Republicans who want to give the tax breaks to the wealthy are also the ones supposedly concerned about our nation’s growing deficit.

HOST: Padilla called out Republicans for cutting Medicaid, nutrition assistance, and public education while still pushing tax cuts for billionaires. The resolution needed unanimous consent, but was blocked by a Republican senator, Mike Crapo of Idaho.

Listen to the full audio here.