Category: US Senate

Arizona’s Double-Barrel Rejection of President Trump’s ‘Fake News’

The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website January 17, 2018:

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake gave a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday in defense of the free press. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Arizona’s two Republican senators asserted themselves Wednesday as defenders of the free press.

Jeff Flake took to the Senate floor for a well-publicized defense of the truth, as President Donald Trump was potentially preparing for an Orwellian “fake news” award ceremony.

“The free press is the despot’s enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him ‘fake news,’ it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press,” Flake said. Continue reading “Arizona’s Double-Barrel Rejection of President Trump’s ‘Fake News’”

Banks Are Big Winners From Tax Cut

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website January 16, 2018:

Big banks like J.P. Morgan are reporting short-term losses as a result of the tax bill but see long-term benefits, including stronger profits, from the overhaul. Credit John Moore/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The nation’s banks are finding a lot to love about the Trump administration’s tax cuts.

The $1.5 trillion tax overhaul signed into law late last year provided deep and lasting tax cuts to all types of businesses, but financial institutions are among the biggest winners so far, reaping benefits from a lower corporate rate and more preferable tax treatment for so-called pass-through companies, which include many small banks.

While some of the biggest banks are reporting fourth-quarter earnings hits stemming from the new tax law, they see rich benefits over the long term, including effective tax rates that are even lower than the new 21 percent corporate rate. Continue reading “Banks Are Big Winners From Tax Cut”

G.O.P. to Use Children’s Health Insurance as Lure for Averting Shutdown

The following article by Thomas Kaplan and Robert Pear was posted on the New York Times website January 16, 2018:

A doctor examining Christopher Serrano, a 10-year-old who is covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program, at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, Tex., this month. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — With little hope of an immigration agreement this week, Republicans in Congress are looking to head off a government shutdown this weekend by pairing another stopgap spending measure with long-term funding for the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, daring Democrats to vote no.

The bill would leave in limbo hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. But Democrats would still be left with a difficult political decision: withhold their votes unless the plight of such immigrants, known as Dreamers, is addressed and risk a government shutdown, or vote to keep the government open and fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage for nearly nine million children. Continue reading “G.O.P. to Use Children’s Health Insurance as Lure for Averting Shutdown”

Tim Pawlenty nixes Minnesota Senate run this year

The following article by Jennifer Brooks was posted on the StarTribune website January 16, 2018:

Minnesota is going to be a “tough state” for Republicans to win, he said on Fox Business News interview.

Credit: J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

WASHINGTON – Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Tuesday he will not run for the U.S. Senate this year, dashing Republican hopes that he would mount a strong bid for Al Franken’s old seat.

Minnesota’s going to be a “tough state for Republicans” to win in 2018, the Republican former governor told Fox Business during a Tuesday interview. Despite the pleas of GOP organizers who urged him to get into the race, and his own interest, Pawlenty nixed the idea. Continue reading “Tim Pawlenty nixes Minnesota Senate run this year”

Shutdown looms as Republicans seek short-term spending deal for government

The following article by Mike DeBonis, Ed O’Keefe and Sean Sullivan was posted on the Washington Post website January 16, 2018:

If Congress doesn’t reach agreement on crucial immigration issues and pass a spending bill, the costly consequence would be a government shutdown. (Video: Joyce Koh/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Chances of a government shutdown grew Monday as Republicans concluded that they would be unable to reach a long-term spending accord by the Friday deadline. GOP leaders are now turning to a short-term funding measure in hopes of keeping agencies open while talks continue, but Democratic leaders say they are unlikely to support any deal that does not protect young illegal immigrants.

Aides to key negotiators from both parties planned to meet Tuesday in an effort to rekindle budget talks, setting up a Wednesday meeting of the leaders themselves. If they cannot agree, the government would shut down at midnight Friday for the first time since 2013. Continue reading “Shutdown looms as Republicans seek short-term spending deal for government”

Jeff Flake isn’t just comparing Trump to Stalin. He’s comparing Republicans to Stalin’s enablers.

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website January 15, 2018:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said on Oct. 24 that he will not seek reelection in 2018. Here are the highlights from his speech. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

A sitting U.S. senator plans to give a speech this week comparing the president of his own party to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. That in itself is remarkable.

“It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) plans to say in a speech about President Trump classifying the news media as “the enemy of the people.” Continue reading “Jeff Flake isn’t just comparing Trump to Stalin. He’s comparing Republicans to Stalin’s enablers.”

Jeff Flake expected to deliver floor speech comparing Trump’s attacks on media to Stalin’s

The following article by Aileen Graef and Liz Turrell was posted on the CNN website January 15, 2018:

(CNN) — Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona is expected to deliver a floor speech on Wednesday in which he will compare President Donald Trump’s attacks on the news media to the rhetoric of late Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

According to an excerpt of the speech, Flake will criticize the President for calling the news media the “enemy of the people,” calling it “an assault as unprecedented as it is unwarranted.” Continue reading “Jeff Flake expected to deliver floor speech comparing Trump’s attacks on media to Stalin’s”

Individual Mandate Now Gone, G.O.P. Targets the One for Employers

The following article by Robert Pear was posted on the New York Times website January 14, 2018:

Republicans got rid of the mandate that individuals have health insurance as part of the tax overhaul Congress passed last month. Credit Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency

WASHINGTON — Having wiped out the requirement for people to have health insurance, Republicans in Congress are taking aim at a new target: the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that employers offer coverage to employees.

And many employers are cheering the effort.

While large companies have long offered health benefits, many have chafed at the detailed requirements under the health law, including its reporting rules, which they see as onerous and expensive. Now that relief has been extended to individuals, some companies believe they should be next in line. Continue reading “Individual Mandate Now Gone, G.O.P. Targets the One for Employers”

Week 34: The Dossier Strikes Back

The following article by Jack Shafer was posted on the Politico website January 13, 2018:

Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

After ‘Sneaky Dianne’ releases 10 hours of testimony, the salacious report gets a boost of respectability.

The Steele Dossier—the sensational opposition-research document that alleged, among other things, that Donald Trump once performed urinary vandalism on a Moscow hotel-room bed—has just celebrated the first anniversary of its release by BuzzFeed. Now, thanks to the publication of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s interview with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, who commissioned the research, the document has reflowered to daub the press with its perfume once more.

At the beginning of the year, Simpson called for the release of his testimony in a New York Times op-ed, writing, “We’re extremely proud of our work to highlight Mr. Trump’s Russia ties.” Democratic senators Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) seconded him at the beginning of the week, and beseeched committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) to do just that. They called for GOP attacks on Simpson and dossier author Christopher Steele to stop and for the selective leaks of the Simpson testimony to cease. Continue reading “Week 34: The Dossier Strikes Back”

Trump criticism dominates Chuck Grassley town meeting in rural Iowa

The following article by Jason Noble was posted on the Des Moines Register website January 12, 2018:

LOGAN, Ia. — U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley faced relentless questioning about President Donald Trump’s fitness for office and his own handling of the investigation into Russian election meddling at a rural town meeting here Friday morning.

Amid a smattering of questions about trucking regulations, homeopathic medicine and pension security, a steady stream of attendees pressed Grassley to defend his handling of the ongoing Russia investigation and to offer his views on Trump’s conduct on the job. Continue reading “Trump criticism dominates Chuck Grassley town meeting in rural Iowa”