Change in Washington

Over the last year, with our country facing a crumbling infrastructure, out-of-control health care and higher education costs and a worsening climate crisis, Peter Roskam and his Republican colleagues in Congress have decided that the single most important thing they could do would be to cut taxes for the wealthy. Now they're back at it again, with a second round of tax cuts that's going to add $3 trillion to the deficit.

In order to funnel even more money toward giving already-profitable corporations a bigger tax cut, this Congress decided to eliminate the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, which required every American who could afford it to buy health insurance. This single decision will lead to 13 million fewer Americans having health insurance by 2027 according the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and will cause the premiums for those who can afford insurance to rise by as much as 10 percent each year. With so many people losing access to insurance, experts predict this change will result in about 10,000 additional deaths each year.

We need a Congress that acts on behalf of the American people, not just the people who send them campaign contributions.

There's nothing about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act or Peter Roskam's record on tax cuts that's pro-business, pro-growth, or pro-middle class. The last year of Republican tax policy has been a handout to wealthy donors and special interest groups that working families are going to end up paying for and the people of Illinois' 6th District deserve better. It's time for a change in Washington.

Michael Pine

Evanston