Dem Rep. Tim Ryan seeks hearings on how GM used GOP tax-law savings

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) is urging the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee to hold hearings to examine how General Motors used its savings from the GOP tax law after the automaker announced Monday that it would lay off workers and close up to five North American plants.

“The American people deserve to know if the tax cuts they paid for are being used to inflate corporate profits at the expense of their economic security and the survival of American workers,” Ryan, whose district includes a plant that is expected to close, wrote Monday in a letter to outgoing Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas).

{mosads}GM announced that it will lay off 15 percent of its corporate workforce and not allocate new products to plants in Michigan, Ohio, Maryland and Canada.

The announcement was blasted by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as by President Trump.

Democrats and liberal groups, in particular, have been criticizing GM for announcing the layoffs and production halts after congressional Republicans passed tax-cut legislation last year that reduced taxes for GM and other companies. A key feature of the law is a reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

“While President Trump and the Republican-led Congress promised the $1 trillion corporate tax cut would trickle-down to the average worker, we know instead that many corporations have used the tax cut to buy back their stock and increase CEO bonuses,” Ryan said.

Ryan also addressed the letter to next year’s likely chairman, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who currently serves as the panel’s ranking member.

A spokeswoman for Neal said that he has expressed an intention to hold hearings on how the tax law has affected workers and middle-class families.