Scott Catches Heat for ‘#KeepYoMoney’
Video endorsing GOP tax plan offends some, liked by others
Some people took issue with a video the Senate Republicans’ official Twitter account posted of Sen. Tim Scott endorsing the new tax framework released yesterday.
The video introduces Scott with a funkadelic overture that fades into a background beat as the South Carolina Republican explains how the GOP tax plan aims to “[help] the average American take home more of their pay” and “[grow] the economy long-term.”
“We want to help you — hashtag — keep yo’ money,” Scott says, holding a sign waist-high reading “#KeepYoMoney.”
“I like to put it very simply: We want to help you #KeepYoMoney.” – @SenatorTimScott #TaxReform pic.twitter.com/WqNZtRGuwJ
— Senate Republicans (@SenateGOP) September 28, 2017
Many Twitter users apparently were not on board with the video or its message. Some poked fun at it for being corny.
Others suggested the GOP was using Scott, the first black Republican senator since 1979, to pander to black constituents by using what one user called “a white guy’s idea of how black people talk.”
Wow. Insult much?
— x (@Iwnfwya) September 28, 2017
Putting the black republican out to do a video where the hashtag has “yo” in it. Typical
— Megan Bre (@hasnothing2say) September 28, 2017
But Scott’s message seems to have landed with others. The video was retweeted more than 200 times and accrued more than 500 likes.
Multiple Twitter users subsequently deployed the hashtag, which Scott developed himself, in original tweets.
“Senator Scott is passionate about tax reform, specifically when it comes to helping Americans keep more of their paychecks,” the senator’s spokeswoman Michele Exner said Thursday. “He also has a sense of humor.”
The GOP introduced a nine-page framework yesterday for overhauling the federal tax code, which Republican lawmakers hope to enact by the new year. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s office has pushed for Republicans to get a bill to President Donald Trump’s desk by Thanksgiving, but that looks increasingly unlikely to happen.
“So, here’s my prediction,” GOP Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada said in August. “This is best case scenario, all right? I believe we’re going to pass tax reform on Dec. 24. I believe leadership is going to tell us you’re not going home for the holidays until you pass tax reform.”
Few of the framework’s details are new. Many of its proposals were previously included in the House Republicans’ “A Better Way” plan released last year, including the proposed business tax rates of 20 percent for corporations and 25 percent for small businesses.
As Republican leadership hammers out the details of the bill, it may have to negotiate with House Freedom Caucus members and possibly some Democrats in states Trump won last November in order to secure enough votes.
