The budget resolution that the House passed today brings Congress one step closer to enacting $1.5 trillion in unpaid-for tax cuts largely for the wealthy and profitable corporations while making low- and middle-income Americans foot the bill.

The budget sets up a fast-track, partisan process for passing the Republican tax plan with just 51 votes, the same process they used to try to force through their repeal of the Affordable Care Act. The tax plan would overwhelmingly benefit those at the top of the economic ladder: the top 1 percent in Arkansas would receive 59 percent of the tax cuts while the bottom 20 percent of Arkansans would get less 2 percent, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Arkansas households that make over a million dollars each year would see an average tax cut of $137,200, ITEP found.

Everyday Arkansans would pay for these tax cuts for the wealthy and profitable corporations. That could come either through immediate cuts to critical programs that help families thrive, including health coverage, tax credits for low-income families, and basic assistance for poor seniors and people with disabilities. Or it would come in the future when dramatically higher deficits would ultimately force cuts to health care, education, infrastructure, and other building blocks of economic growth.

Under this plan, working families in Arkansas will likely end up worse off. Instead of tax cuts that help those who need it the least, Congress should be prioritizing budget and tax policies that boost working families, spur our economy through investment in education, housing, infrastructure, and more, and do not add to the deficit.

While we are disappointed that Arkansas’s representatives voted for the budget plan today, they will have a second chance to stand with Arkansas families as the House and Senate craft a tax bill. We call on Arkansas’s federal delegation to oppose any plan with tax cuts for the wealthy and profitable corporations that would force cuts to programs that help everyday Americans make ends meet and get ahead.

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Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is a statewide, nonprofit child advocacy organization established in 1977. AACF’s mission is to ensure that all children and their families have the resources and opportunities to lead healthy and productive lives and to realize their full potential.