Category: US Senate

How Republicans Rallied Together to Deliver a Tax Plan

The following article by Jim Tankersley and Alan Rappeport was posted on the New York Times website December 19, 2017:

Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and other Senate Republicans after passage of the tax plan on Capitol Hill early Wednesday.CreditTom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The sting of failure on health care still lingered in the Senate on Aug. 3, when Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, summoned the Republican members of the Budget Committee to his office. We need to pass a tax bill this fall, Mr. McConnell told his colleagues, and we need a budget that allows us to do that.

There was no dissent. Continue reading “How Republicans Rallied Together to Deliver a Tax Plan”

The stealth repeal of Obamacare

The following article by Joanne Kenen was posted on the Politico website December 19, 2017:

The health law has been wounded in a year of Trump.

The manadate’s repeal is only one of several heavy blows to the health law since President Donald Trump and the GOP swept in nearly a year ago. | Evan Vucci/AP

Obamacare survived the first year of President Donald Trump, but it’s badly damaged.

The sweeping Republican tax bill on the verge of final passage would repeal the individual mandate in 2019, potentially taking millions of people out of the health insurance market. On top of that, the Trump administration has killed some subsidies, halved the insurance enrollment period, gutted the Obamacare marketing campaign, and rolled out a regulatory red carpet for skimpy new health plans that will change the insurance landscape in ways that are harmful to former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. Continue reading “The stealth repeal of Obamacare”

The Republican tax bill was the easy part. The next debate could be much uglier.

The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website December 19, 2017:

With the Republicans’ tax plan heading to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law, just who will be getting his promised “Christmas present” and who won’t? (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

The Republican overhaul of the tax code sets the stage for years of politically fraught debate over what the government should provide for its citizens and how much it should demand in taxes.

President Trump and Republicans in Congress are celebrating the $1.5 trillion legislation as a big tax cut for workers and businesses. And for the time being, it is that — 80 percent of the country will pay lower taxes next year. Continue reading “The Republican tax bill was the easy part. The next debate could be much uglier.”

With unpopular tax bill, experts say GOP has learned nothing from Obamacare missteps

The following article by Emily C. Singer was posted on the Mic website December 19, 2017:

Credit: www.speaker.gov/blog

It’s déjà vu all over again for Republicans, who, over the past weeks, have sought to convince themselves that the unpopular tax bill they’re set to pass won’t sink their electoral hopes in the 2018 midterm elections.

“No concerns whatsoever,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Monday when asked whether he was concerned that the tax plan, currently opposed by more than half of voters, could hurt the GOP next November. Continue reading “With unpopular tax bill, experts say GOP has learned nothing from Obamacare missteps”

With Talks in Flux, Shutdown Showdown Gets Closer

The following article by Lindsey McPherson was posted on the Roll Call website December 19, 2017:

Fate of ‘cromnibus’ hangs in the balance

President Donald Trump walks with House Speaker Paul Ryan, November 2017. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

House Republicans’ plan to pass a full-year Defense appropriations bill with a continuing resolution for remaining agencies through Jan. 19 was supposed to be an easy lift, a measure designed to show the Senate their unified support for increased national security funding. Continue reading “With Talks in Flux, Shutdown Showdown Gets Closer”

GOP tax bill passes Senate as House prepares to send it to Trump

The following article by Jeff Stein and Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website December 20, 2017:

Congressional Republicans on Dec. 20 passed a massive tax overhaul, sending the bill to President Trump for him to sign it into law. (Jenny Starrs, Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Follow Wednesday’s updates here: GOP tax bill passes Congress

Republicans are on the verge of passing the most significant overhaul of the tax code since 1986, after the Senate passed the GOP plan early Wednesday morning and House leaders scheduled a vote to quickly send it to President Trump. Continue reading “GOP tax bill passes Senate as House prepares to send it to Trump”

Wells Fargo CEO reveals the scam at the heart of Republicans’ tax bill

The following article by Rebekah Entralgo was posted on the ThinkProgress website December 19, 2017:

Say it with me: trickle-down economics doesn’t work.

AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE

The House of Representatives is set to vote on the final version of the GOP tax bill Tuesday, with the Senate to follow close behind. Most Republican members of Congress are heralding the plan’s giant, permanent tax cut for corporations as the reason behind their support. The GOP argues that when corporations get a tax cut, they put that money toward creating more jobs and raising wages. Continue reading “Wells Fargo CEO reveals the scam at the heart of Republicans’ tax bill”

The GOP Tax Bill Was Manifestly Corrupt Long Before the ‘Corker Kickback’

The following article by Eric Levitz was posted on the New York Magazine website December 18, 2017:

Fill the swamp. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Earlier this month, Bob Corker believed that the Republican tax bill was unconscionably reckless. The Tennessee senator had spent a decade decrying the “rapidly growing national debt” as the “greatest threat to our nation” — and months vowing to vote against any tax-cut legislation that added “one penny” to that sum. So, when he learned that the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” would add over $1 trillion to the deficit, Corker decided to take a lonely stand against it.

Two weeks later, Republican leaders in the House and Senate unveiled their final, consensus tax-cut legislation. The bill was nearly identical to the one Corker had voted against, except that it added even more money to the deficit — and included a special tax break for real-estate investors that would increase Bob Corker’s personal income by up to $1.2 million a year. Continue reading “The GOP Tax Bill Was Manifestly Corrupt Long Before the ‘Corker Kickback’”

Republican Senate Starting to Block Trump Nominees

The following article by Joe Williams was posted on the Roll Call website December 19, 2017:

The Senate Banking Committee has rejected former Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., as President Donald Trump’s nominee to be president of the Export-Import Bank. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

In another example of the increased scrutiny President Donald Trump’s nominees are facing, the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday rejected the nomination of former Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., to lead the Export-Import Bank, with Republicans Tim Scott of South Carolina and Mike Rounds of South Dakota joining Democrats to vote him down.

Garrett was a vocal opponent of the bank when he was in Congress, and his nomination was in trouble from the start. But it follows a pattern of other nominees running into headwinds in the Republican-controlled Senate. Continue reading “Republican Senate Starting to Block Trump Nominees”

An Appropriations Bill Is Threatening to Make Politicians More Dependent on Big Donors

The following article by Alex Tausanovitch was posted on the Center for American Progress website December 19, 2017:

U.S. currency in 100 dollar denominations is displayed for illustration purposes, in Washington, March 31, 2014. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Instead of taking steps to fight political corruption, some in Congress are attempting to open a new avenue for wealthy donors to ingratiate themselves to political leaders. Currently, an individual can give no more than $2,700 per election to a candidate for federal office, but a little-noticed provision in a draft government funding bill—the fiscal year 2018 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill—could be the beginning of the end of these limits. Continue reading “An Appropriations Bill Is Threatening to Make Politicians More Dependent on Big Donors”