Category: US Senate

IMF chief warns Trump’s tax cuts could destabilise global economy

The following article by Graeme Wearden and Larry Elliot was posted on the Guardian website January 26, 2018:

Reforms may threaten recovery and lead to bigger US budget deficit, says Christine Lagarde

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde speaking at Davos. Credit: Gian Ehrenzeller/EPA

Donald Trump’s huge tax cuts are a threat to the stability of the global economy, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund has warned.

Christine Lagarde singled out Trump’s tax reformsas one of three risks that could destabilise the current economic recovery, especially given the boom in stock markets in the past year.

“While the US tax reforms certainly will have positive effects in the short term, for the US and other countries around, it might also lead to serious risks,” Lagarde told the World Economic Forum in Davos. Continue reading “IMF chief warns Trump’s tax cuts could destabilise global economy”

The Mueller confrontation that Republicans were trying to avoid has just arrived

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website January 26, 2018:

Before it came out that President Trump sought to fire Robert Mueller last June, Trump and his aides repeatedly said he wasn’t giving “any thought” to the idea. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

This story has been updated with more Republican reaction to the news.

The firing of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has long been a red line for most Republicans in Congress who are trying to work with their president.

But it’s a red line they’d rather not act on — and now, with news that President Trump actually made moves to do it, they may be forced to. Continue reading “The Mueller confrontation that Republicans were trying to avoid has just arrived”

Republicans Prepare for Upcoming Abortion Vote

The following article by Sandhya Raman was posted on the Roll Call website January 26, 2018:

Votes not likely there in Senate, but measure could be a midterm issue

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford is among the proponents of the legislation to ban late-term abortions. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Senate Republicans are readying for a vote next week on a late-term abortion bill. And while it’s unlikely they will have the votes to pass it, abortion opponents say the measure could play a role in the 2018 midterm elections.

The bill would ban abortions after the 20-week mark, while providing exceptions for rape, incest or the endangerment of a woman. It passed the House along party lines last year and has been waiting on a Senate vote.

However, with a 60-vote threshold for passage, Republicans face a tough path ahead. The legislation was recently listed as a top priority of anti-abortion groups. Continue reading “Republicans Prepare for Upcoming Abortion Vote”

GOP leaders’ complicity grows as their members undermine the rule of law

The following commentary by the Washington Post Editorial Board was posted on their website January 25, 2018:


Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Capitol Hill on Thursday. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

A FOREIGN power interfered in the 2016 presidential election. U.S. law enforcement is trying to get to the bottom of that story. Congress should be doing everything possible to make sure the investigation can take place. Instead, to protect the president of their party, who may or may not be complicit, Republican leaders in Congress are allowing and encouraging the baseless slander of the investigators.

It is a new low for the leadership, and one that could do lasting harm to the nation.

Cravenness in the Republican leaders’ response to Donald Trump is nothing new. During the presidential campaign, few stood up to his nativism and ugly ethnic slurs. Since he became president, even fewer have stood by their previous commitments to U.S. leadership abroad and fiscal responsibility at home. As he has trampled long-established norms, such as releasing annual tax returns, we’ve heard not a peep from the Article I branch. Continue reading “GOP leaders’ complicity grows as their members undermine the rule of law”

OOPS: Republican senator’s FBI conspiracy theory was based on a joke

The following article by Aaron Rupar was posted on the ThinkProgress website January 25, 2018:

“Just connecting the dots.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chair of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

On Thursday morning, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) went on NPR and tried to defend a wild conspiracy theory he and other Trump-supporting Republican members of Congress have been talking about for several days. It did not go well.

Johnson tried to stand by his claim that a “secret society” within the FBI was trying to oust President Trump. When an NPR host pointed out to Johnson that it appears the text message he based his entire conspiracy theory on was just a joke, the senator became defensive, and then tried to change the topic to the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Continue reading “OOPS: Republican senator’s FBI conspiracy theory was based on a joke”

Senate panel to release interviews with Trump Jr., others involved in meeting with Russian lawyer

The following article by Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website January 25, 2018:

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said on Jan. 25 that he’ll release transcripts of interviews related to Donald Trump Jr.’s Trump Tower meeting with Russians. (Jordan Frasier/The Washington Post)

The Senate Judiciary Committee intends to release transcripts of its interviews with President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., and others who participated in a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer allegedly promising damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said Thursday that the committee would disclose “all witness interviews that we have done related to that meeting,” making them available to the public “for everyone to see.” The committee’s interviews, which were conducted behind closed doors, are complete, he added. Continue reading “Senate panel to release interviews with Trump Jr., others involved in meeting with Russian lawyer”

GOP feud with FBI ratchets up

The following article by Katie Bo Williams was posted on the Hill website January 24, 2018:

The knives are out for the FBI on Capitol Hill.

Conservative lawmakers from four separate committees are raising alarm bells about a tranche of missing text messages between two FBI agents assigned to the investigation into Russia and President Trump’s campaign, saying it calls into “further question the credibility and objectivity of certain officials at the FBI.” Continue reading “GOP feud with FBI ratchets up”

Border Wall ‘Off the Table,’ Schumer Says, as Immigration Progress Unravels

The following article by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website January 23, 2018:

<em“The wall offer’s off the table,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday.CreditEric Thayer for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Senate negotiators found themselves back at Square 1 on immigration on Tuesday, as the Senate Democratic leader withdrew the biggest gesture he had made to strike a deal: an offer to fully fund President Trump’s proposed wall at the Mexican border.

“The wall offer’s off the table,” the leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, told reporters at the Capitol a day after senators overcame an impasseto end a three-day government shutdown. Continue reading “Border Wall ‘Off the Table,’ Schumer Says, as Immigration Progress Unravels”

Another continuing resolution won’t solve the real problem within the Republican Party

The following article by William B. Heller, Associate Professor of Political Science, Binghamton University, State University of New York, and Olga Shvetsova, Professor of Political Science and Economics, Binghamton University, State University of New York, was posted on the Conversation website January 23, 2018:

Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, right, have been working through the snags with their tax bill. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Republicans can’t agree on a budget.

That lack of agreement has made it necessary for Congress to pass a series of continuing resolutions to keep the government open.

There’s no budget agreement because factions within the GOP hold contradictory policy positions on almost every issue. James Madison, an author of the Federalist Papers might have framed the problem this way: The party draws on votes from – and is accountable to – diverse groups of citizens with conflicting interests. That conflict within the Republicans’ voting base means that any policy they propose would hurt at least some of the members’ key constituents. Continue reading “Another continuing resolution won’t solve the real problem within the Republican Party”

Graham: Stephen Miller makes immigration deal impossible

The following article by Jordain Carney was posted on the Hill website January 21, 2018:

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) warned on Sunday that the White House staff is undercutting President Trump and Congress’s ability to get a deal on immigration.

“Every time we have a proposal it is only yanked back by staff members. As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we’re going nowhere,” Graham told reporters as he headed into a closed-door negotiation with a bipartisan group of senators. Continue reading “Graham: Stephen Miller makes immigration deal impossible”