A political action committee linked to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) released an ad Tuesday criticizing a Democratic congressional candidate in Pennsylvania for calling middle-class tax cuts "crumbs."
The ad comes from the Congressional Leadership Fund and connects Conor Lamb, a 33-year-old running in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). The PAC has spent more than $2 million on Republican Rep. Rick Saccone’s reelection effort, according to the Washington Examiner.
The ad features a widow and single mother named Mary Beth Cirucci who calls Lamb "out of touch" for denigrating the tax cuts from which she benefits.
"Being a widow is tough. Raising two teenage sons all by myself is even tougher. That’s why I really appreciated the middle-class tax cut. Conor Lamb and Nancy Pelosi called it ‘crumbs,’" she said as the ad began.
"When you’re a single mom and everything falls on your shoulders, every dollar counts," she added. "Conor Lamb and Nancy Pelosi are out of touch. He’s not one of us."
Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has seen its popularity climb since its passage, with a majority of Americans now supporting it. Polls showed most Americans opposed it as it was going through Congress, since they believed it would increase taxes.
Pelosi, who is one of the House’s richest members, called the benefits resulting from tax reform "crumbs" and "so pathetic" in January and has stuck by her words. Some Democrats, including Lamb, have followed suit despite, in addition to individual tax cuts, numerous companies having announced they would give additional bonuses, increase wages, and invest in the U.S. economy as a result of the reduced corporate tax rate.
Lamb picked up the description from Pelosi and has argued that President Donald Trump and Republicans do not care about the middle class. He said in an interview last month that he will only work with Trump on legislation that goes beyond giving "crumbs" to the middle class.
"I'll work with Trump on infrastructure and drugs, but not the sort of tax bill that gives crumbs to the middle class and does nothing to protect jobs from going overseas," Lamb said.
Ryan himself criticized the "crumbs" line soon after Pelosi made it, and the National Republican Congressional Committee has also hit Lamb for taking the same line of attack.
Despite the attention Republicans have given to the "crumbs" comments, the mainstream media have almost completely ignored them.