The following article by Shawn Zeller was posted on the Roll Call website January 5, 2018:
The Week Ahead Podcast is now CQ on Congress. New look but same great show. CQ Senate reporter, Niels Lesniewski, says the Senate Republican majority, now just one seat, will struggle to pass legislation and confirm judges in 2018.
View the post here
The following article by Devlin Barrett and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website January 5, 2018:
The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended Friday that the Justice Department investigate for possible criminal charges the author of the now-famous dossier alleging the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin during the 2016 election.
The move by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) marks a major escalation in conservatives’ challenges to the FBI’s credibility as the agency investigates whether any Trump associates committed crimes. Another Republican, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), joined in the letter to the Justice Department.
Their letter makes what is called a criminal referral to the Justice Department, suggesting it investigate the dossier’s author, former British spy Christopher Steele, for possibly lying to the FBI. It is a crime to lie to FBI agents about a material fact relevant to an ongoing investigation. Continue reading “Senior Republican refers Trump-Russia dossier author for possible charges”
The following article by Louis Jacobson was posted on the Politifact website January 2, 2018:
The tax bill that President Donald Trump signed into law on Dec. 22, 2017, was a large and consequential piece of legislation. It was also the culmination of no fewer than nine of Trump’s campaign promises. So how did he do?
Upon review of the bill’s provisions, we found only one pure Promise Kept in the bill, compared to four we rated Promise Broken. But he made significant, if imperfect, progress on four other promises, and we’ve rated these Compromise. Continue reading “How closely did the tax bill resemble Trump’s campaign promises?”
Former Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith was sworn in as U.S. Senator for Minnesota on Tuesday.
“Congratulations to U.S. Senator Tina Smith and her family,” said DFL Chairman Ken Martin. “I am grateful she stepped forward to serve Minnesotans in this role, and I am convinced she will continue in the proud tradition of other strong progressives who held this same seat before her.”
“I have had the good fortune to know Tina for over 20 years and can tell you that there is no one better equipped to take on this unique challenge than her. She has spent years listening to Minnesotans across the state and fighting to ensure their voices are represented at all levels of government.”
“Tina is a person who brings people together to solve complex problems. Through this consensus-building approach, she has developed widespread respect on both sides of the aisle. I truly have not met a person in Minnesota politics who does not like Tina, which is a remarkable feat in modern politics. I am confident that she will hit the ground running in Washington and serve Minnesotans well in a federal government so polarized by politics.”
The following article by Landon Thomas, Jr. was posted on the New York Times website January 3, 2018:
The big corporate tax break that became law last month is great news for companies and their investors. But what about employees? How much of the corporate tax windfall will go to workers via higher wages?
Since President Trump signed the $1.5 trillion tax cut into law on Dec. 22, nearly 20 large companies have announced some form of bonus or wage hike for their employees. Will they make a difference? Or are they merely publicity stunts?
“This is not a P.R. stunt,” said Teresa Tanner, who oversees marketing and human resources at Fifth Third Bank, a regional lender in the Midwest that is raising its minimum wage and giving some employees a $1,000 bonus. “The tax cut will be an ongoing benefit for us and we wanted to share this with our employees. It is the right thing to do.” Continue reading “Companies Are Handing Out Bonuses Thanks to the Tax Law. Is It a Publicity Stunt?”
The following article by Simone Pathé was posted on the Roll Call website January 4, 2018:
Tina Smith just got here. And now she has 10 months to try to keep her new job as Minnesota’s junior senator.
She’ll face voters in a November special election to fill out former Democratic-Farmer-Labor Sen. Al Franken’s term. It’s an incredibly condensed timeline for what could be a competitive race in a state Hillary Clinton won by less than 2 points in 2016.
Smith starts with the disadvantages of incumbency — having a day job one thousand miles away from home — without all of the advantages. Her Democratic peers up for re-election this year will have had a full two-year cycle to put together a campaign, not to mention at least six years in the Senate to fundraise and build a brand. Continue reading “Tina Smith Has Just 10 Months to Keep Her New Job”
The following article by Maya Rao was posted on the StarTribune website January 4, 2018:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Tina Smith was sworn into office Wednesday, capping a stormy period of upheaval in Minnesota politics as this former behind-the-scenes player stepped into the glare of the national spotlight.
“What I intend to do is be just a really fierce advocate for Minnesotans here in Washington, D.C.,” Smith said in an interview a few hours before she formally replaced former Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. Minnesotans, she added, want leaders who get things done and not just talk, “and that’s the energy I’m going to bring.”
Franken stepped down a day earlier following a series of sexual harassment allegations. Smith, who served three years as Minnesota’s lieutenant governor following a career as an influential DFL strategist, was Gov. Mark Dayton’s choice to replace him. Continue reading “U.S. Sen. Tina Smith makes Washington debut”
The following article by David Weigel was posted on the Washington Post website January 2, 2017:
Ask any reporter what his or her most hated question is, and we’ll tell you: It’s asking “why isn’t the mainstream media covering this?” while linking to a story from the mainstream media.
This year started off with a doozy, when congressman-turned-CNN pundit Jack Kingston tweeted a link to a Fox News item about a Hillary Clinton donor offering $500,000 to help women who had stories of sexual misconduct by Donald Trump. “Another story buried by #MSM in 2017,” tweeted Kingston.
The New York Times had broken that story and put it on the front page. Continue reading “Democrats aren’t just ‘running against Trump.’ Why do people think they are?”
The following article by Mike DeBonis was posted on the Washington Post website January 3, 2018:
A nonprofit group with ties to Republican congressional leaders is broadcasting TV ads to promote the GOP tax bill and those who voted for it. (American Action Network)
Two weeks ago, Republicans passed their massive rewrite of the federal tax code. Now a GOP group is spending millions to convince voters they will benefit from it.
The American Action Network, a nonprofit group with close ties to Republican congressional leaders, is launching a $2 million round of TV ads promoting the tax bill Wednesday, the first salvo in a $10 million campaign to give key House Republicans a boost going into November’s midterm elections.
The ads, running in 23 districts, feature a couple sitting on their couch extolling the benefits of the bill — “will save a typical family more than $2,000”; “helps create jobs and boost middle-class income” — and thanking the local lawmakers for their votes.
So far, the public is not sold. Several public polls released last month, including surveys from CNN and the Wall Street Journal/NBC News show that pluralities of Americans oppose the GOP tax bill, citing its benefits for corporations and the wealthy. Many Americans, the polls show, believe they will see a tax hike under the bill — not a tax cut.
The centerpiece of the $1.5 trillion bill is a dramatic cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Many business owners, meanwhile, will be entitled to a new 20 percent deduction on their business income, and wealthy Americans will see more of their assets sheltered from the federal estate tax. Wage earners see comparatively scant benefits — a larger standard deduction and child tax credit, as well as modestly lower income-tax rates, all of which will expire after 2025.
Democrats have been eagerly pointing to the outsize benefits for corporations and top earners, but Republican leaders believe that the public will warm to the bill once they see the benefits. For instance, employers are expected to start withholding less income tax from employee paychecks starting in February. “If we can’t sell this to the American people we ought to go into another line of work,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after the Senate vote.
Republicans are forging ahead with their promise to overhaul the tax code, even with very little public support for their proposal. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
ut sell it they must, said Corry Bliss, who runs the American Action Network and its affiliated super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund. Amid major head winds for Republican candidates this year, his theory for doing so is simple: Lawmakers must make the case to voters that they have made a difference in everyday lives, and “grand economic theory” about boosting economic growth won’t get it done.
“It has to be connected to the individual,” he said Tuesday. “People care about themselves and their family, and they will reward people who are looking out for them and they will punish people who are not looking out for them.” Continue reading “Republicans passed their tax bill. Now they’re spending $10 million to promote it.”
The following article by Ian Kullgren was posted on the Politico website January 2, 2018:
Not long before a deluge of sexual harassment claims engulfed Capitol Hill, congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump quietly repealed safeguards to protect hundreds of thousands of American workers from such harassment.
Their target was an August 2016 regulation issued by the Obama Labor Department that required businesses to disclose certain labor violations — including sexual harassment — whenever they bid on large federal contracts. Continue reading “The sexual harassment vote the GOP would like to forget”
