For this sorry tax bill, our delegation should have held out for more

A few years ago, in this paper I wrote an open letter to President Obama. I was arguing against his policy to open drilling in the arctic. I've been arguing this for years. The wayback machine reflects my opinion then on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: "Mr. President, your administration missed an opportunity. Any conservationist worth his salt would rather see ANWR opened than the Beaufort and Chukchi seas drilled. So open ANWR, set a time limit — say 10 years — and step up the oversight. The trade? Shut down arctic drilling. You can't control a spill in water or under ice. No one can."

Forgive me, but I felt like this was important to establish while our delegation is on the cusp of trading away all that is holy to open ANWR. The tax rip-off bill is ready to be shoved down the throats of a choking America. It's hard to know what's in it since we've been assured by the majority leader that it can be read after the vote, but as I write, the bill is more than 400 pages if you don't include all the scribbling in the margins. I wish I were kidding. They aren't even waiting for a report on what it will cost in passing. They just have to do something — anything — before they can't.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski wants to be the person to snatch the 7th-grade bowling trophy away from environmentalists that they've been holding dear for so long. Opening ANWR is attached in the bill to get her to vote for it. It's the new 30 pieces of silver.

[Murkowski joins Sullivan in supporting GOP tax plan]

To be fair, Dan Sullivan would vote for it no matter what. See, he couldn't have possibly voted for Obama's budget a few years back because, well, he said at the time the $80 billion dollars it added to the deficit was just too much. The Joint Committee on Taxes has estimated that this tax bill will add at least $1 trillion dollars to the deficit — but Sullivan will vote for it. Hard telling what he held out for; I can't imagine it was much more than a two-day old ham sandwich. He's their boy and he dances with who brung him.

Oh, and Don Young? Well, a bill opening ANWR made it to President Bill Clinton's desk in 1995. Don Young worked hard to make that happen. He voted yes to violate the Alaska Statehood Act of a 90/10 split (Alaska getting 90 percent and the feds getting 10 percent) and compromised with a 50/50 split. He then went on KFAR radio and said, "My decision has been all along that, well, all right, we'll take the 50/50 split and then we'll go after the rest of it at a later time. If necessary, we'll do it through the court system but there will be a way that we get our just dues." Well, that didn't go over well and it was vetoed.

So whoopie doo, Alaskans! If this tax smash bill gets passed, we give away the keys to the kingdom of ANWR! Drill, baby, drill. What do we get? Well, we get a delegation willing to cut off our nose to spite our face.

Are you over 65 and on Medicaid? Well, there will be a cap on your cancer treatments. There's an immediate $25 billion cut. Are you a graduate student trading lab research and undergraduate assistance for your tuition? Well, now you'll need to get a job to pay taxes on your education credit. More than 13 million Americans will lose their access to health care.

This week the Joint Committee on Taxation put out their assessment that said the bill won't generate enough new tax to cover those they are cutting. Less than one percent over ten years. "The JCT estimated that the bill would add $1.4 trillion dollars to federal deficits over a decade, ignoring any dynamic effects on the economy."

If you're wondering, that's more than the stimulus package passed under Obama. Oh, but those corporations getting a heavenly break, including Pfizer, Cisco, Coca-Cola and others, have said they won't use their cuts to hire more workers or expand business. Why? Because that's not what drives jobs. Demand does, and if people don't have jobs they don't buy Cokes and if they don't have health care they don't buy pills. Don't feel too bad for them. There's a provision in the tax bill that repeals performance-based compensation standards for companies. Sen. McCaskill reported an amendment to ensure companies use their tax saving to raise employee wages at the same rate they increase executive pay, stock buybacks and dividends to shareholders. Every single Republican who voted, voted no.

For what this bill is for most Americans — a poison pill — our delegation should have gotten so much more. Maybe it's about what they got for themselves. It certainly wasn't for us, dear brothers and sisters.

Shannyn Moore is a regular contributor to the Daily News.

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