To the editor:
Your readers may have heard or read U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (Mo. 8th District) trying to make you believe he votes for the interests of small towns, rural families and farmers. If you check his voting record you would see what he really supports. For 23 key votes from 2021-2023 he said “nay” 21 times and the two “yea” votes were for defense spending. These are the 23 bills:
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021; Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; Inflation Reduction Act of 2022; For the People Act of 2021; Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act; Assault Weapons Ban of 2022; National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022; James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023; American Dream and Promise Act of 2021; Sgt. First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022; Chips and Science Act; Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021; S.A.F.E. Banking Act of 2021; Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022; Equality Act (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity); Respect for Marriage Act (codified the recognition of marriages between individuals of the same sex and of different races, ethnicities or national origins); Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine; Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act; Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act; Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021; Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (firearm regulation and mental health); Transition Improvement Act of 2022; Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors; and Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022.
His vote for the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law slashed the corporation tax rate from 35% to 21% and introduced tax loopholes. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found 23 companies paying zero in taxes and 109 companies between 2018 and 2022 paying nothing at least once. The 342 companies in the ITEP study saw “subsidies” of $275 billion in the first five years of the Trump-GOP tax law.
The vast majority of Smith's votes were against the interests of the vast majority of his constituents. We need a representative who really works for us and not just one who says he does.
