Category: US Senate

Democrats Leave Few Seats Unchallenged in Quest for House Control

The following article by Rachel Shorey and Lilia Chang was posted on the New York Times website December 24, 2017:

A voter last year at a polling location in the county courthouse building in Marion, Ark. Democrats are putting forward candidates even in states like Arkansas where Republicans remain heavy favorites. Credit Andrea Morales/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Representative Pete Sessions, a veteran Republican, was re-elected to his affluent Dallas-area House seat in 2016 with 71 percent of the vote, the remaining 29 percent split between the Libertarian and Green Party candidates.

Hillary Clinton won the district by three percentage points, but no Democratic candidate even showed up to ride her coattails.

Federal Election Commission filings show that if a wave crashes on the Republican House majority in November, as many have predicted, Democratic surfers will be on their boards to catch it. Nearly a year out from the election, Democratic candidates have filed in all but 20 House districts held by Republicans. By comparison, Democrats in 80 districts do not have a Republican opponent for their seat. Continue reading “Democrats Leave Few Seats Unchallenged in Quest for House Control”

What to look for from the Republican tax bill, month by month

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website December 22, 2017:

President Trump delivers remarks after signing sweeping tax overhaul legislation into law on Friday in the Oval Office. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

On Friday morning, President Trump signed into law the sprawling tax bill that was hastily built out by Republican leaders over the past month. In doing so, he formalized a huge range of changes to how Americans — and American businesses — will pay their taxes.

Given that U.S. tax law was not particularly user-friendly even before the Republican rehaul, we reached out to Manhattan-based tax attorneys Steven and Benjamin Goldburd to explain how the law will affect Americans over the course of the year. Or, really, the next decade. Continue reading “What to look for from the Republican tax bill, month by month”

Trump Promised to Kill Carried Interest. Lobbyists Kept it Alive.

The following article by Alan Rappeport was posted on the New York Times website December 22, 2017:

From right, Gary D. Cohn, director of National Economic Council, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin with lawmakers in November to discuss tax legislation. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s signature on the Republican tax bill marks his most important legislative achievement to date. It also represents the breaking of a signature promise that helped propel his populist presidential campaign.

This week, as senior White House officials acclaimed passage of the tax overhaul in Congress, they also expressed one regret: failing to close the so-called carried interest “loophole” that benefits wealthy hedge fund managers and private equity executives. Despite Mr. Trump’s vows to eliminate a tax rule that allows some rich business leaders to pay lower tax rates than their secretaries, the president in this case was no match for the powerful lobbyists protecting the status quo. Continue reading “Trump Promised to Kill Carried Interest. Lobbyists Kept it Alive.”

This Congress’s clear priorities: corporations, not children

They following article by Dylan Scott was posted on the Vox website December 21, 2017:

Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

It’s taken Congress three months to do the bare minimum to help CHIP.

Congress is preparing to go home for the holidays having delivered a historic tax cut for corporations — and having done only the absolute minimum to stave off disaster for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The government spending bill released on Thursday, which Republican leadership hopes to pass in a matter of hours, would provide $2.8 billion that is supposed to fund the program through March. Continue reading “This Congress’s clear priorities: corporations, not children”

McConnell bracing for ‘knock down, drag out’ 2018 midterms

The following article by Louis Nelson was posted on the Politico website December 22, 2017:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also said he is prepared to wade into GOP primaries to “make every effort to make sure we have a nominee on the November ballot who can appeal to a general election audience.” | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the Washington Examiner Thursday that he anticipates a “knock down, drag out” 2018 midterm election for Republicans, who will look to maintain their majorities in both houses of Congress with a historically unpopular president in the White House.

“The environment today is not great, the generic ballot’s not good, and I’d love to see the president’s approval rating higher. So I think we should anticipate a real knock down, drag out — even on the Senate side,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said in an interview Thursday. Continue reading “McConnell bracing for ‘knock down, drag out’ 2018 midterms”

The GOP Knows The End Is Near

The following article by Michelangelo Signorile was posted on the Huffington Post website December 21, 2017:

Republicans are looting the store, taking everything they can grab off the shelves, anticipating the demise of Donald Trump as progressive energy explodes.

Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, speaks to members of the media on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017. The feud between President Donald Trump and Corker flared up again Tuesday when the Republican senator said the president should stay out of the tax-overhaul effort, expressing concern that the White House has been making it harder for Congress to craft legislation. Photographer: Olivier Douliery/Bloomberg

Republicans in Congress, as well as people surrounding Donald Trump’s inner circle in the White House, clearly know something. They’re trying to get everything they can, looting the store, taking everything off the shelves like it’s the end times. The walls are closing in as the special counsel investigation continues unabated ― causing some in the GOP to to try to damage it ― and as the Resistance becomes supercharged, expanding the Democrats’ chances of making big wins in 2018.

The GOP has even lost its last fig leaf of moderation―Maine senator Susan Collins―who’s been having a meltdown in the past few days after being exposed in much of the media, having voted for the Trump tax scam and not received in return promised votes on shoring up Obamacare markets. (Now GOP leaders are telling her they will come in 2018…sure.) Collins, who voted for Trump’s most misogynistic judicial nominees, hostile to a woman’s right to choose, has devolved into claiming she’s now a victim of an “unbelievably sexist” media, sounding every bit like what the alt-right would call a whiny snowflake. Continue reading “The GOP Knows The End Is Near”

Ivanka Trump Goofs Up On Tax Law In Her Televised Boast

The following article by Mary Papenfuss was posted on the Huffington Post website December 21, 2017:

We’ll be filling out our tax returns next year on a postcard — not.

Ivanka Trump’s victory boast on “Fox & Friends” about her dad’s new tax measure included a couple of gaffes.

She spoke Thursday about Americans filing under the new law in April. In fact, the new law won’t kick in until 2018, and taxes for that year will be due in April 2019. Continue reading “Ivanka Trump Goofs Up On Tax Law In Her Televised Boast”

Republicans Are Taking Voter Concerns About The Tax Bill Too Literally

The following article by Nate Silver was posted on the FiveThirtyEight website December 21, 2017:

President Trump celebrates with Vice President Pence and congressional Republicans outside the White House on Wednesday after Congress passed a sweeping tax overhaul. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

In reading coverage of the Republican tax bill, which passed the House on Wednesday and is ready for President Trump’s signature, I was reminded of this famous clip of the 1992 “town hall” presidential debate between Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush,1 in which a voter asked the candidates a question about the “national debt” and how it had “personally affected” their lives. Continue reading “Republicans Are Taking Voter Concerns About The Tax Bill Too Literally”

States to Congress: You’ve Still Left Us a Children’s Health Care Mess

The following article by Gideon Resnick was posted on the Daily Beast websited December 22, 2017:

Lawmakers passed a short-term fix to CHIP. But some states say it won’t prevent them from having to plan for draconian measures.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH BROCKWAY/THE DAILY BEAST

Nearly three months after a reauthorization deadline for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) came and went, Congress voted on Thursday to provide piecemeal funding for the program before they left for the holidays.

But the legislation passed did little to resolve the burgeoning crisis. And some state officials say that they are still planning to proceed as if the health care program for poor children will be fully out of funds in the near future. Continue reading “States to Congress: You’ve Still Left Us a Children’s Health Care Mess”

Top FBI official grilled on Comey, Clinton in Hill testimony

The following article by Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb was posted on the CNN website December 22, 2017:

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. (Getty)

Washington (CNN) — FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe faced numerous questions this week about his interactions, conversations and correspondence with his onetime boss, former FBI Director James Comey, spanning both the FBI’s Russia investigation and its probe into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, according to multiple sources from both parties with knowledge of his testimony.

In private testimony before the House Intelligence Committee this week, McCabe told lawmakers that Comey informed him of conversations he had with President Donald Trump soon after they happened, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. Continue reading “Top FBI official grilled on Comey, Clinton in Hill testimony”