The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website April 6, 2018:
February’s blockbuster jobs report — a huge gain in employment and drops in the unemployment rate among key groups — was not matched by the March number released Friday morning. The economy added 103,000 jobs last month, according to preliminary estimates, and the number of jobs created in January and February was adjusted downward by 50,000 (down 63,000 in January and up 13,000 in February).
The following article by Naomi Jagoda and Niv Elis was posted on the Hill website March 30, 2018:
Credit: Alex Edelman/picture-alliance/dpa/AP
More than three months after the passage of the GOP’s tax-cut law, new surveys suggest that many people don’t think they are getting bigger paychecks, which could cut into support for Republicans in this fall’s midterm elections.
A CNBC poll this week stated that just 32 percent of working adults reported having more take-home pay due to the new law, a problem for Republicans hoping to run on the measure and the health of the economy in November.
The GOP has made the tax-cut law the centerpiece of its campaign message, arguing that Republican control of Congress and the White House led to legislation that is putting more money in people’s pockets and stimulating an economy with low unemployment. Continue reading “GOP tax message hits a snag”
The following article by Andrew Soergel was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website March 30, 2018:
The benefits of the nation’s new tax code haven’t cropped up in much economic data so far this year.
GOP LAWMAKERS BROUGHT in 2018 with a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul that upended the burdens individuals and corporations owe to the Internal Revenue Service each year.
The legislation heaped new debt onto a country already saddled with more than $20 trillion in outstanding obligations. But the overhaul was touted as an economic growth engine likely to drive investment and wage growth in America, eventually allowing the cuts to pay for themselves by virtue of a stronger economy. Continue reading “The Tax Cut Effect”
The following article by Robert Faturechi was posted on the ProPublica website March 28, 2018:
Jason Foster, chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, once blogged under the handle “Extremist,” expressing worry about a Muslim takeover and whether Joe McCarthy got a bum rap. Today, as he helps lead an explosive investigation, he says the blogging was satire and asks for forgiveness.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Grassley and ranking member Feinstein listen to testimony during a hearing on Capitol Hill in July. Jason Foster is chief investigative counsel to this committee. Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Jason Foster, chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, fits a classic Washington profile: A powerful, mostly unknown force at the center of some of the most consequential battles on Capitol Hill.
For the last year, Foster — empowered by his boss, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee’s chairman — has been the behind-the-scenes architect of an assault on the FBI, and most centrally its role in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to interviews with current and former congressional aides, federal law enforcement officials and others. Continue reading “A Partisan Combatant, a Remorseful Blogger: The Senate Staffer Behind the Attack on the Trump-Russia Investigation”
The following article by Jeff Stein was posted on the Washington Post website March 28, 2018:
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). Credit: Melina Mara/The Washington Post
House Republicans are considering a vote on a “balanced-budget amendment,” a move that would proclaim their desire to eliminate the federal deficit even as they control a Congress that has added more than $1 trillion to it.
The following article by Alison Parker was posted on the ShareBlue.com website March 24, 2018:
Republicans’ intransigence on gun violence is being tested as more big-money donors are joining Al Hoffman Jr. and putting away their checkbooks.
Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
Even in the wake of tragedy upon tragedy, Republicans have governed under the thumb of the NRA. But more funders are joining mega-donor Al Hoffman Jr. to demand action on gun safety. Consequently, the GOP may finally realize the need to make a change.
Days after the mass shooting at a high school in Florida, Hoffman made his stance clear to the party.
Rep. Erik Paulsen sure is busy telling everyone how great he thinks the tax reform act is. Erik, if the plans is so fantastic why don’t you plan an in-person town hall and have a conversation with your constituents so you can hear what we think?
We all understand that the tax reform act will reduce taxes overall, but it appears to be a gift to the wealthiest individuals and corporations, not working families. Home-owning Minnesotans, especially in cities like Eden Prairie, will see limited benefit or even tax increases while narrow interests, like real estate businesses will have windfall. Republicans used to abhor government picking winners and losers. No more. Continue reading “Income Taxes Aren’t Going to Go Down”
The following article by Mallory Shelbourne was posted on the Hillwebsite March 18, 2018:
Lawmakers on Sunday rallied to the defense of special counsel Robert Mueller after concerns were raised over his job security following the abrupt firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
McCabe said his firing was an attempt to undermine the Mueller investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible collusion between members of Trump’s campaign and Moscow. The president targeted Mueller’s investigation in a series of tweets over the weekend, further alarming many lawmakers.
Democrats on Sunday were calling for proactive measures to protect Mueller and his investigation. Republicans insisted Trump has no intention of firing the special counsel, although the White House also acknowledged Trump is “frustrated.” Continue reading “Lawmakers rally to defend Mueller after McCabe exit”
The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website March 15, 2018:
GOP source: Lighthearted or not, president’s idea is going nowhere
Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said his party would move to make its memo available to the House on the same terms as the Republican memo. Credit J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
A second Republican-crafted tax overhaul bill? In a highly competitive midterm election year? President Donald Trump keeps suggesting Republican lawmakers should do just that.
During public remarks — both at official White House events and campaign rallies — he almost always brings up the tax law. He touted the tax cuts Wednesday during a roundtable with private-sector officials in St. Louis as they gushed about the law’s impacts on them personally, their employees and their businesses. And during a Saturday rally in Pennsylvania for GOP House candidate Rick Saccone, Trump urged the crowd to go vote for him Tuesday because “we need him. We need Republicans. We need the votes. Otherwise, they are going to take away … your tax cuts.”
At least three times since Feb. 1 — and twice this week alone — the president has suggested Republicans need to team up with him again for “round two” of tax rate cuts and code alterations. He revealed Wednesday that House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady is working with him to write a second measure.
But the president’s first comments about a second bill could be viewed as him just ribbing the Texas Republican, whom he has teased about working around the clock to get the GOP tax law crafted and to his desk.
“We’re now going for a phase two. We’re actually going for a phase two,” Trump said Wednesday. “It’s going to be something very special. Kevin Brady’s working on it with me.” He even contended that Democrats will have a “big incentive” to support the second bill.
Trump singled out Brady on Monday during an event at the White House, telling him, “Kevin, are we going for an additional tax cut, I understand?”
“He’s the king of those tax cuts. Yeah, we’re going to do a phase two,” the president said. “I’m hearing that.”
The audience, there to see the president honor the World Series Champion Houston Astros, responded with a collective laugh. A lighthearted Trump smiled, but persisted in a serious tone: “We’re actually very serious about that, Kevin. So it’s good.”
Those predictions of a “phase two” came after Trump went to the GOP policy retreat in West Virginia on Feb. 1 and said this while addressing Brady: “Maybe we’ll do a ‘phase two,’ I don’t know. We’ll do a phase two. Are you ready for that, Kevin? Huh? I think you’re ready. … We’ll get them even lower.”
Asked just what the president is referring to and whether he was indeed working on a new tax overhaul bill, a White House official replied succinctly: “He was joking.”
But was he?
A Ways and Means spokeswoman referred a reporter to comments Brady made Wednesday on Fox Business. “We are,” he replied when asked if a second tax bill is in the works.
“We think even more can be done,” Brady said. “While the tax cuts for families were longterm, they’re not yet permanent. So we’re going to address issues like that. We’re in discussions with the White House, the president, on this issue.”
Brady and other Republicans dropped an idea earlier this week to include tax code fixes in a coming omnibus spending bill as Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said his caucus would only sign on if they got code changes they want in return.
Trump told Republican donors he once told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Canada enjoys a trade surplus with the United States despite having “no idea” if that was true, according to the Washington Post.
Any Republican-crafted tax measure almost certainly would need special rules to allow it to pass the Senate with 51 votes — and even then it likely would not be a sure thing. And only a budget resolution can unlock those rules, known as “reconciliation.” GOP leaders have shown no inclination to even craft, much less pass, a budget resolution this year, complicating Trump’s idea — serious or not.
Brady would only commit to a timeline of “this year” for rolling out some “new, good ideas.” However, he did not commit to moving a second measure in 2018.
And one GOP source said that is for a good reason.
“I think the president enjoyed the tax reform process and wants more of it,” said one Republican source with knowledge of the situation. “But, of course, we can’t do that this year, and no one on the Hill is considering it at all.”
The following article by Tracy Jan was posted on the Washington Post website March 12, 2018:
A for-sale sign advertises a townhouse in Northeast Washington. Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The Senate is poised to pass a bill this week that would weaken the government’s ability to enforce fair-lending requirements, making it easier for community banks to hide discriminationagainst minority mortgage applicants and harder for regulators to root out predatory lenders.
The sweeping bill rolls back banking rules passed after the 2008 financial crisis, including a little-known part of the Dodd-Frank Act that required banks and credit unions to report more detailed lending data so abuses could be spotted.
GOP LAWMAKERS BROUGHT in 2018 with a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul that upended the burdens individuals and corporations owe to the Internal Revenue Service each year.
Lawmakers on Sunday rallied to the defense of special counsel 
