Exclusive: Black Americans For A Better Future wary of Senate GOP’s tax bill

Raynard Jackson (File photo)

Members of Black Americans For A Better Future told Big League Politics that they are happy President Donald J. Trump’s support of tax reform, the bill in the House, but concerned about what version that passed the Senate.

“I consider this administration to be about promises made, and promises kept,” said Raynard Jackson, chairman of the BAFABF.

“We know we can’t get anything done unless we are at the table,” Jackson said.

“Members of the Trump administration are getting called racist, but after numerous administrations ignored us, Trump’s is the only administration helping my group get to the table,” he said.

The House bill passed Nov. 16, with 227 Republicans voting for its passage and no Democrats.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R.-Wash.), the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, she the House had made history.

“This is a historic moment. It’s been 31 years since the tax code was fundamentally reformed,” she said.

“We’re looking out for middle class families who deserve the same chance as everyone else to get ahead,” she said.

“The hardworking men and women of America deserve a tax code that puts them first,” the congresswoman said. “We’ve created a plan that rewards hard work, encourages innovation and entrepreneurship, and levels the playing field so that everyone plays by the same rules.”

In early October, Jackson’s group presented a white paper titled: “Black Entrepreneurs Keys to Economic Improvement 2017,” to McMorris Rodgers and Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s former chief White House strategist and now the executive chairman of Breitbart News.

The group’s research showed that access to capital was a problem due to diminishing numbers of community banks, Jackson said.

Bannon told a private group at a Nov. 2 meeting in South Carolina: “Minority entrepreneurs are the biggest customers of community banks and you know why they didn’t get recapitalized? Because nobody cares. When it comes time to make the deals, you’re not in the room.”

Jackson’s group appeared on Capitol Hill Oct.25, along with Rodgers, chairwoman of the House GOP conference, at a conference called the Faces of Tax Reform.

“I pray the Senate will finally hear our message.  Obama didn’t do this much for us,” Jackson said.  In 2008, President Barack H. Obama ran on a platform of assisting the black community getting assistance with small business in urban areas.

Kenneth McClenton, president of The Exceptional Conservative Network and member of Jackson’s group, said he has been involved in the process from the white paper to Capitol Hill, told Big League Politics: “President Trump’s administration is keeping their promises to us.”

Yet, McClenton said he is concerned about the bill in the Senate. “In truth, I believe that the Senate will sabotage the bill to surrender Congress to the Democrats.”

He is especially worried about Sen. Susan M. Collins (R.-Maine), Sen. Lisa A. Murkowski (R.-Alaska) and Sen. John S. McCain III (R.-Ariz.), because he suspects they will betray the voters, he said.

“The Senate’s resistance to the Trump agenda puts at risk economic growth and individual prosperity,” he said.

 

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