Squad members Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib introduced a new amendment this week to end President Trump’s “opportunity zone” programs in American cities.
Opportunity zones are very successful and have helped black communities grow. Republicans pass a bill that has helped Black people and Black communities and Democrats, the party of slavery, want to repeal it.
“Progressive [communist] Democrats Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib(D-Mich.) this week proposed an amendment that would prevent the IRS from using funds to administer or enforce the ‘opportunity zone’ program created by President Trump‘s 2017 tax-cut law,” reports The Hill.
O-Cortez is the one who killed the Amazon deal in Queens, costing the community thousands of jobs.
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Lawmakers created the program in an effort to help low-income communities, and the provisions in the 2017 tax law on opportunity zones were based on bipartisan legislation.
Tlaib introduced a bill in November to repeal the opportunity zone program. She said at the time that the program “fails to drive real benefits to low-income communities, instead often rewarding President Trump’s donors.”
Other Democratic lawmakers have offered bills that wouldn’t eliminate the program but would increase guardrails and reporting requirements.
Republicans back increasing reporting requirements about investments in opportunity zones, and continue to be supportive of the program.
Scott said last year that his original legislation included significant reporting requirements on the outcomes of the opportunity zones initiative, and although these were stripped out of the bill due to Senate rules, he is working to have them reinstated.
Senator Tim Scott says they are working:
“I’ve watched the new growth and development, in urban and rural communities alike, that is the beauty of the Opportunity Zones initiative,” Scott says. “It doesn’t pick winners and losers or utilize a one-size-fits-all approach to economic development. It serves as one more tool in the toolbox to empower communities and investors to come together to identify and achieve projects and investments that will make a difference for their residents.”
“In my home state of South Carolina, there is a new $54 million-dollar tech corridor that’s finally becoming a reality because of the Opportunity Zones law. And just last month, a nonprofit announced that it has formed a partnership to construct rural healthcare facilities and make healthcare accessibility a reality for our rural communities.”
Cortez and Tlaib say some wealthy investors have taken advantage of the zones but that can be corrected with better reporting requirements. Why defund them? They work in general.
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