Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and Senator Sherrod Brown engaged in a shouting match Thursday night at a hearing over the GOP tax reform bill working its way through the Senate.
Hatch, a Utah Republican, took umbrage at comments by Brown saying the tax bill will help the rich at the expense of the poor.
“This tax cut is really not for the middle class,” Brown said. “It’s for the rich.”
Calling it “a nice political play,” Hatch told Brown “I’ve been here working my whole stinking career for people who don’t have a chance, and I really resent anybody saying that I’m just doing this for the rich.”
Brown, an Ohio Democrat, meanwhile, shot back that the public believes that the bill primarily benefits the wealthy. “I get sick and tired of the richest people in the country getting richer and richer,” he said over shouts calling for regular order. “We do a tax cut for the rich and the middle class loses.”
Hatch said that he came from the lower-middle class. “We didn’t have anything,” he said. “So don’t spew this stuff at me.”
“I like you personally very much but I’m telling you, this stuff you throw out really gets old after awhile,” he said.
The fight came during the final day of the Senate Finance Committee debate over the tax overhaul bill. The committee later approved the bill on a party line vote 14-12.
One Response
Mr. Hatch was %100 right. Mr. Brown has no derech eretz.