Following the Senate vote to pass its version of a Republican tax bill, a conference committee of House and Senate leaders is now working to resolve differences between the two bills, in hopes of sending a final bill to the President for signature before Christmas. California's congressional delegation will have another opportunity in the coming weeks to weigh in on the tax plan, which in its current form, would hurt low- and moderate Californians by:

• Dramatically increasing the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion, which would undoubtedly set up future calls for budget cuts to programs and services that help millions of Californians, including CalFresh and Medi-Cal;

• Punishing Californians by eliminating or scaling back the state and local tax deduction, which would increase the tax burden for many middle-income households and  make it harder for the state to adequately fund K-12 education, higher education, public safety, and programs that help low-income families.

• Repealing the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act, which would raise premiums and cause  13 million Americans to lose their health insurance, including over 1.8 million Californians.

Read the most recent analysis of the bill's impact on California from our partners at the California Budget and Policy Center.  link