Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) on Thursday criticized House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) for saying tax reform’s benefits amount to "crumbs" for workers.
Ryan touted the positive effects of Republicans’ tax reform legislation to C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, who then brought up Pelosi’s criticism that any benefits workers have seen are mere "crumbs."
"I think the Democrats are going to regret not having supported this," Ryan said. "I think it’s going to do tremendous things for our economy, and unfortunately, we are in a very, very partisan climate, but that does not stop us from doing what we think is right to help people in this country and to grow the economy."
"But as you know, Leader Pelosi is calling all of this ‘crumbs,’" Scully replied.
"Yeah, I’m sad and surprised she said that," Ryan said. "To somebody working at Walmart at the starting wage, who just went from $9 an hour to $11 an hour–I don’t think that’s crumbs. To a person working paycheck-to-paycheck [who] just got a $1,000 bonus–that’s not crumbs."
He pointed out hundreds of thousands of other workers receiving benefits before describing benefits to the economy that go beyond take-home pay.
"Comcast, just one company, is investing $50 billion in America, in jobs, in expanding across the country—this isn’t crumbs," Ryan said. "The additional maternity leave at Walmart, the higher 401(k) plans."
"You’ve got to remember that more than half of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, so when they get something like a $1,000 bonus at Christmastime because of this tax law, it’s hardly crumbs," he added.
Pelosi said the benefits to workers are "so pathetic" during her weekly press briefing Thursday. She also said Democrats would be holding teach-ins about the malign effects of the "GOP tax scam" over the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.