Category: US Senate

Senate GOP changes tax bill to add Obamacare mandate repeal, make individual income cuts expire

The following article by Mike DeBonis and Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said on Nov. 14, he was “optimistic” about adding the individual mandate repeal to the tax bill. (The Washington Post)

Senate Republican leaders moved Tuesday to include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate in their tax bill, a major change of strategy as they try to accomplish two of their top domestic priorities in a single piece of legislation.

They also announced that the individual tax cuts in the plan would be made temporary, expiring at the end of 2025 to comply with Senate rules limiting the impact of legislation on the long-term deficit. A corporate tax cut, reducing the rate from 35 to 20 percent, would be left permanent. Continue reading “Senate GOP changes tax bill to add Obamacare mandate repeal, make individual income cuts expire”

Tax Fight Coming Over Politicking by Churches, Nonprofits

The following article by Kate Ackley was posted on the Roll Call website November 14, 2017:

Lawmakers are considering legislation that could have broad implications for churches and charities. (Roll Call file photo)

How lawmakers resolve one contentious item between the House and Senate’s diverging tax overhauls may have broad implications for future politicking by churches and charities.

The House bill would repeal the longstanding Johnson Amendment, which prohibits churches and other 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from endorsing — or opposing — candidates for elective office. But after a backlash from liberal organizations who said the change could open up a whole new avenue for undisclosed political money at taxpayer expense, senators decided not to roll back the Johnson Amendment in their overhaul plan. Continue reading “Tax Fight Coming Over Politicking by Churches, Nonprofits”

New woman accuses Moore of sexual misconduct when she was a minor

The following article by Robert Costa and Jenna Johnson was posted on the Washington Post website November 13, 2017:

During a press conference Nov. 13, Beverly Young Nelson accused Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her in the 1970s when she was a teenager. (Reuters)

NEW YORK — An Alabama woman on Monday accused Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for Alabama’s open U.S. Senate seat, of sexually assaulting her and bruising her neck in the late 1970s when she was 16 years old.

This new allegation follows an extensive report published Thursday by The Washington Post that detailed allegations that Moore initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32. The story also described his relationship with three other girls who were between the ages of 16 and 18 at the time. Moore has denied the allegations. Continue reading “New woman accuses Moore of sexual misconduct when she was a minor”

Not in a Million Years: The House’s Proposed Windfall for Donors

The following article by Galen Hendricks and Sam Berger was posted on the Center for American Progress website November 13, 2017:

The Capitol is seen at dawn on October 30, 2017, in Washington. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Congressional proponents of the House Republicans’ tax plan, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, claim that it will benefit the middle class. But in reality, it is a huge giveaway to the donor class—including a handful of top donors who have bankrolled the campaigns of Republican leaders in Congress. In fact, just the bill’s estate tax cuts alone would allow the families of 11 prominent donors, listed below, to pocket up to $67.5 billion. The typical U.S. family couldn’t earn that much in a million years.

That’s not a figure of speech: The typical American family would have to work for 1,144,020 years to make the same amount of money as congressional majority leaders want to give away to the heirs of just these 11 wealthy individuals who helped them get elected. Continue reading “Not in a Million Years: The House’s Proposed Windfall for Donors”

More than 400 millionaires tell Congress: Don’t cut our taxes

The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website November 12, 2017:

The Trump administration says its tax plan is intended to help ordinary Americans, but some key Republican figures have acknowledged that big business and political donors stand to benefit. (Taylor Turner/The Washington Post)

More than 400 American millionaires and billionaires are sending a letter to Congress this week urging Republican lawmakers not to cut their taxes.

The wealthy Americans — including doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and chief executives — say the GOP is making a mistake by reducing taxes on the richest families at a time when the nation’s debt is high and inequality is back at the worst level since the 1920s. Continue reading “More than 400 millionaires tell Congress: Don’t cut our taxes”

Republicans Search for Proof Their Tax Plans Will Pay for Themselves

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website November 12, 2017:

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, delivering remarks on Capitol Hill last week before a meeting on the Senate tax plan. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders keep insisting that their plans to cut taxes by $1.5 trillion over the next decade will not add to the national debt — yet economic analyses of the Senate and House proposals keep predicting that the plans will do just that.

The disconnect is prompting House and Senate Republican leaders and the Trump administration to hunt down — and promote — more optimistic forecasts, even if they exclude large parts of the tax bills from their analyses or assume growth-boosting features that are not, in fact, in the bills. Continue reading “Republicans Search for Proof Their Tax Plans Will Pay for Themselves”

Congress Took Three Decades to Come This Far, Sexual Harassment Victim Says

The following article by Stephanie Akin was posted on the Roll Call website November 11, 2017:

Dorena Bertussi filed Hill’s first successful harassment complaint in 1988

Shortly after Dorena Bertussi’s name was published in one of the first major sexual harassment scandals in the House of Representatives, she came home to the sound of a ticking clock on her home answering machine.

The police told her she might want to find someplace else to stay for a while.

It was one of many episodes that help Bertussi understand — perhaps more than most — why 29 years later a national firestorm over sexual harassment in American institutions has been slower to ignite in Congress.

Bertussi has since shared the details of her story countless times when women who worked in Congress or other government jobs approached her about following in her footsteps. It is no surprise to her, she said in a recent interview, that most of those women never came forward — and that even today, amid the cascade of public complaints against high-profile figures in other industries, members of Congress have been largely spared. Continue reading “Congress Took Three Decades to Come This Far, Sexual Harassment Victim Says”

How Could a Tax Change Affect You? This Is What the Senate and House Propose

The following article by Ron Lieber and Tara Siegel Bernard was posted on the New York Times website November 10, 2017:

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaking during a Senate news conference this week. House and Senate tax plans differ on a number of important issues. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

On Thursday, Senate Republicans unveiled their tax bill. It differs from last week’s version in the House of Representatives on a number of important issues. For instance, the Senate plan would completely eliminate the ability to deduct state and local taxes; there is no exception for up to $10,000 in property taxes each year, as there is in the House bill.

It’s too soon to predict what, if anything, will come of all this. In the coming days and weeks, we will see which proposals survive as Congress moves toward possible full votes on these or modified bills. In the meantime, here’s a guide to some of the consumer-facing issues under consideration.

Tax Brackets

What’s in place now:

Seven brackets, with a top rate of 39.6 percent, which people pay on income they earn beyond $480,050 for couples filing their taxes jointly. Continue reading “How Could a Tax Change Affect You? This Is What the Senate and House Propose”

The Cost of Lower Taxes

The following article by Andrew Soergel was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website November 10, 2017:

Lawmakers are in the midst of a battle to keep constituents and interest groups happy without exploding the deficit.

The Capitol dome in Washington. (Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

President Donald Trump rode into town on the backs of several ambitious campaign promises.

But after one year in office, his border wall along America’s southern border remains unbuilt. The Obamacare legislation he vowed to gut while on the campaign trail remains in effect.

And although he’s had more success on deregulation through executive orders and memoranda, the ongoing tax reform battle on Capitol Hill represents the president’s last, best chance for a big-ticket legislative victory this year – and arguably before the 2018 mid-term elections. Continue reading “The Cost of Lower Taxes”

‘I don’t feel wealthy’: The upper middle class is worried about paying for the tax overhaul

The following article by Todd C. Frankel was posted on the Washington Post website November 9, 2017:

House Republican leaders on Nov. 2 proposed legislation that would overhaul the U.S. tax code. Here’s what you need to know about it. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — On the income distribution charts at the center of tax overhaul plans, Courtney Mishoe knows she’s doing well. She works as a tax manager at a firm in the Atlanta suburbs. Her husband is a police officer. Together, they make more than $180,000 a year. They are solidly in the upper middle class. But they have a mortgage and three kids, including one in day care and another in high school with plans to go to college. It all adds up. They depend on tax deductions to make their budget work. Continue reading “‘I don’t feel wealthy’: The upper middle class is worried about paying for the tax overhaul”