In response to House Republican Steve Scalise’s endorsement of Donald Trump, DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement:

“MAGA House Republicans keep showing America they’ve turned the House into little more than an arm of Donald Trump’s campaign – so it’s no surprise Steve Scalise, who called himself ‘David Duke without the baggage,’ is joining the parade of House extremists backing Trump’s bid. Scalise’s top priority has always been pushing Trump’s unpopular agenda: He voted against certifying the 2020 election, is hellbent on banning abortion nationwide, and worked with Trump to try to rip away Americans’ health care. Scalise’s endorsement is the latest proof that while the House GOP is unable to accomplish anything on behalf of the American people, they are laser-focused on advancing Trump’s MAGA agenda and ripping away freedoms.”

Scalise is a notorious election denier who did Trump’s bidding by refusing to vote to certify the 2020 election results and downplaying Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection.

Associated Press: “The House’s second-ranking Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise, repeatedly refused to say on Sunday that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, standing by Donald Trump’s lie that Democrat Joe Biden won the White House because of mass voter fraud.”

CNN: “Asked three times by Fox News host Chris Wallace whether the election was ‘stolen,’ Scalise refused each time to offer the only correct answer: no. Instead, Scalise danced around a direct answer – claiming that states had not followed their own laws in conducting the pandemic-era election. ‘What I said is there are states that didn’t follow their legislatively set rules,’ Scalise said when Wallace pressed.”

Washington Post: “Steve Scalise’s election rhetoric is no less harmful than Trump’s”

CNN: “On January 6, Scalise made the same argument about improper state procedures to explain why he was voting against the certification of some of Biden’s electoral votes. The same argument was the basis for the infamous Texas-led lawsuit, which Scalise supported, that sought to get the election overturned.”

The Guardian: “The second-highest ranking Republican in the US House, Steve Scalise, is facing criticism for questioning what Democrats did to halt the deadly January 6 Capitol attack on the day of the riots despite being shown on video standing beside chamber speaker Nancy Pelosi as she called for back-up from national guard troops.”

Scalise is a longtime champion of Trump’s efforts to restrict access to abortion and rip away freedoms from women across the country. 

Scalise on Trump administration announcing abortion restrictions: “Another big #ProLife win thanks to @realDonaldTrump”

Axios: “Nearly 150 Republican lawmakers on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to allow lower court rulings imposing restrictions on a widely used abortion pill to take effect. Why it matters: Lawmakers who signed on to the brief that was filed to the court include some within Republican leadership, such as Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.).”

New York Times: “‘Boy, did we get a huge victory just a few months ago when Roe was overturned, but as you all know, that’s only the end of the first phase of this battle,’ Mr. Scalise told the crowd, highlighting the package of abortion bills already passed by the new Republican majority in the House. Those measures include legislation that could subject doctors who perform abortions to criminal penalties.”

2017: Scalise co-sponsored and voted for a national abortion ban.

Trump: “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. And it’s very important.”  

Trump: “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone … Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”

Trump: “I’m the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade, and everybody said that was an impossible thing to do. I put on three Supreme Court justices. Very few people have had that privilege or honor.”

Scalise supported Trump’s MAGAnomics tax scam that gave tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations at the expense of the middle class — exploding our national deficit in the process.

Scalise: “Trump’s tax plan is a win that just keeps giving”

CBS News: “Two years after Trump tax cuts, middle-class Americans are falling behind”

The Guardian: “They were billed as a ‘middle-class miracle’ but according to 

a new book Donald Trump’s $1.5tn tax cuts have helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.”

Washington Post: “One of President Donald Trump’s lesser-known but profoundly damaging legacies will be the explosive rise in the national debt that occurred on his watch. The financial burden that he’s inflicted on our government will wreak havoc for decades, saddling our kids and grandkids with debt. The national debt has risen by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office.”

New York Times: Opinion: “President Trump’s 2017 tax cut, which was largely a handout to the rich … helped push the tax rate on the 400 wealthiest households below the rates for almost everyone else.”

Bloomberg: “[Trump] intends to center his economic plans on extending and deepening the Republican tax cuts from 2017.”

Trump: “I will never let the Trump tax cuts … I will never let them be taken away.”

Trump: “You’re all people that have a lot of money … you’re rich as hell. … We’re gonna give you tax cuts.”

Trump on whether his second term tax policies would echo those of his first term: “Yes, and I’d do even more taxes.”

Washington Post: “The former president’s closest economic advisers are plotting an aggressive new set of tax cuts to push on the campaign trail and from the Oval Office if he wins a second term. Trump and his advisers have discussed deeper cuts to both individual and corporate tax rates that would build on his controversial 2017 tax law … Trump’s advisers, though, have discussed proposals to make deeper cuts to the overall corporate tax rate, potentially to as low as 15 percent, or to use the revenue from the proposed tariffs to pay a dividend to U.S. households. Further cutting corporate taxes … would primarily benefit large firms.”

Scalise fought side by side with Trump to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act and jeopardize the health care coverage of millions of Americans.

Scalise on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act: “I’m proud to work closely with my colleagues and President Trump to pass this important legislation.”

Economic Policy Institute: “Across the country, 29.8 million people would lose their health insurance if the Affordable Care Act were repealed—more than doubling the number of people without health insurance. And 1.2 million jobs would be lost—not just in health care but across the board.”

The Hill: “Former President Trump vowed Monday to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with his own ‘much better’ alternative program, reviving his push to slash the now-popular health care option used by millions of Americans.”

Scalise wants to end Social Security and Medicare as we know them — essential programs America’s seniors rely on. 

Semafor: “In 2014, for instance, Scalise released a proposal to raise the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare to 70, among other cost-cutting measures.”

Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Semafor: “@RepArrington tells me Scalise favors setting up bipartisan commission probing the national debt, including putting Social Security/Medicare on the table: ‘He supports it, I can say that with confidence’”

Semafor: “On Wednesday, Republicans narrowly nominated their current majority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, for the speaker’s chair over right-wing favorite Rep. Jim Jordan. Both lawmakers previously led the RSC one after the other — Jordan from 2011 to 2013, and Scalise from 2013 to 2014. These days, the RSC is best known around Washington as a GOP policy shop responsible for crafting proposals to balance the federal budget, often through changes and cuts to Social Security and Medicare.”

CNN: “Former President Donald Trump once backed raising the retirement age to 70 and called for privatizing Social Security which he called a ‘Ponzi scheme’ – two positions he has hammered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for supporting as a former member of Congress and congressional candidate. … but a CNN KFile review found Trump himself also once praised Ryan on Medicare, along with the 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, without praising their specific policy proposal, which called for similar changes to Ryan’s plan.”

Scalise’s MAGA extremism is nothing new — he spoke at a gathering of white supremacist leaders in 2002 led by longtime Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Washington Post: “House Majority Whip Scalise confirms he spoke to white supremacists in 2002”

CNN: “Scalise addressed an anti-Semitic, white supremacist group back in 2002 run by none other than David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan who is well-known in Scalise’s home state of Louisiana because of several statewide campaigns for governor and senator.”

Washington Post: “Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke said late Monday that his longtime political adviser, Kenny Knight, was ‘friendly’ with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) in 2002, and cited that relationship as the reason Scalise accepted an invitation that year to speak at a gathering of white supremacists.”

The Guardian: “House speaker contender Steve Scalise reportedly called himself ‘David Duke without the baggage’”