A Senate Finance Committee hearing devolved into a shouting match late Thursday after Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) took umbrage at Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown’s suggestion that “it would be nice” if Republicans would acknowledge that their tax plan “really is not for the middle class, it’s for the rich.”
“When Republicans are in power, the first thing they want to do is give tax cuts to the rich,” Brown said. “It’s in their DNA.”
Brown clearly “hit a soft spot,” as Hatch retorted angrily that he is “from the lower middle class originally” and said any characterization of the GOP tax plan as pro-rich is “bullcrap.”
“I’ve been here working my whole stinkin’ career for people who don’t have a chance. I really resent anybody who says I’m just doing this for the rich. Give me a break,” Hatch said. “I get kind of sick and tired of it.”
After Hatch’s brief monologue, Brown shot back—over the Republican’s gavel slams—that he gets “sick and tired of the richest people in this country getting richer and richer. We do a tax cut for the rich and the middle class shrinks.”
Watch:
Sherrod Brown really takes the fight to Orrin Hatch here. No Trumpian namecalling or low blows. Instead focusing on the GOP helping only the ultra-rich. Judging by how mad Hatch got, Brown hit a soft spot. pic.twitter.com/WxDFb8ipHB
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) November 17, 2017
“It takes me a lot to get worked up like this,” Hatch exclaimed.
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