Today’s tax bill from the House Ways & Means Committee is a full-fledged attack on the health and well-being of older adults today and will make future retirement security impossible for all but the very rich.

As we’ve discussed, this is all part of the House Republican leadership’s two-step process.  Step one is to cut taxes for the wealthy and drive up the deficit by $1.5 trillion. Step two is to use the higher deficit to justify additional cuts in the future to programs we all depend on, such as Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Older American Act programs, and many others.

This bill will overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans and big corporations at the expense of everyone else. Once the tax cuts have done their damage, and left the country in dire financial straits, the money to pay for programs and services that older Americans need will have already gone into the bank accounts of the very wealthy.

The program cuts that House Republican leadership will then push for will cause lasting harm to seniors today and in the future.