Tag: GOP congress

The Tax Cuts Are Truly a Crummy Deal for Most of Us

The following article was posted on the Creators website February 8, 2018:

Credit: mconners via morguefile.com

Would someone kindly replace Nancy Pelosi as a spokesperson for Democrats? The House minority leader’s riff on the tax bill as “crumbs” for average Americans bombed on two fronts. One was her snide and preachy tone. The other was linking “crumbs” to $1,000-or-better bonuses that a few companies said they will distribute out of their tax savings.

Not that Pelosi was entirely wrong. House Speaker Paul Ryan rescued her with his tweet about a woman doing backflips over a tax cut amounting to $1.50 a week. Continue reading “The Tax Cuts Are Truly a Crummy Deal for Most of Us”

GOP friendly fire imperils Trump nominees

The following article by Anthony Adragna was posted on the Politico website February 8, 2018:

Republican senators seeking concessions on issues like disaster funding, marijuana and ethanol are one reason Trump’s picks have had trouble getting confirmed

Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Barrasso (R-Wyo.) is blocking an Energy Dpt nominee over the agency’s practice of selling excess government-controlled uranium. Credit: John Shinkle/POLITICO

A throng of Republican senators is holding up the confirmations of some of President Donald Trump’s nominees — even as he continues to blame the logjam on Democratic “obstruction.”

At least 11 Republican senators in recent months have disclosed they’re blocking votes on nominees for agencies including the Energy, Agriculture, State, Homeland Security and Justice departments. The vast majority of those delays remain in place while the lawmakers demand concessions on issues such as ethanol regulations, marijuana, disaster funding and nuclear waste. Continue reading “GOP friendly fire imperils Trump nominees”

Trump declares newly released FBI texts “BOMBSHELLS,” though the picture they paint is murky

The following article by Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website February 7, 2018:

Senate Homeland Security Chair Johnson (R-Wis.) initiated a fresh round of attacks on two FBI officials investigating Clinton and Trump, releasing hundreds of pages of texts between them and a report he said raises questions about how the FBI handled its most high-profile probes of political figures. Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) initiated a fresh round of attacks Wednesday on two of the FBI officials involved in investigating Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, releasing hundreds of pages of texts between the pair and a report that raises questions about how the bureau has handled its most high-profile probes of political figures.

Though many of the messages already had been made public, President Trump quickly seized on their release, writing on Twitter, “NEW FBI TEXTS ARE BOMBSHELLS!”

Collectively, the texts show the two officials disliked Trump and feared what he might do as president, and they freely intermingled talk of politics with talk of work. But the pair also seemed to harbor animosity for many other politicians, including Democrats, and even co-workers. Continue reading “Trump declares newly released FBI texts “BOMBSHELLS,” though the picture they paint is murky”

Republicans are completely reversing themselves on the deficit

The following article by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner was posted on the Washington Post website February 7, 2018:

Republican lawmakers in 2011 brought the U.S. government to the brink of default, refused to raise the debt ceiling, demanded huge spending cuts, and insisted on a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.

On Wednesday, they formally broke free from those fiscal principles and announced a plan that would add $500 billion in new spending over two years and suspend the debt ceiling until 2019. This came several months after Republicans passed a tax law that would add more than $1 trillion to the debt over a decade. Continue reading “Republicans are completely reversing themselves on the deficit”

Trump keeps giving Republicans reasons to bang their heads against the wall

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website February 7, 2018:

President Trump on Feb. 6 said he would “love to see a shutdown” if Congress fails to reach a legislative deal that strengthens immigration enforcement. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The timing couldn’t have been more imperfect for Republicans in Congress: Just as Senate leaders were telling reporters that they may have a deal on a long-term spending bill, one that has eluded them for months, Trump made a stunning admission.

“I’d love to see a shutdown if we don’t get this stuff taken care of” — “this stuff” meaning immigration. Continue reading “Trump keeps giving Republicans reasons to bang their heads against the wall”

Analysis: The GOP Catch-22 — Donald Trump

The following article by Stuart Rothenberg was posted on the Roll Call website February 7, 2018:

Republicans in Congress are in a no-win situation with the president

Republicans are caught between supporting and distancing themselves from President Donald Trump as the midterms approach. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Even if you think Republican leaders in Congress have shown no spine in responding to President Donald Trump’s more outrageous and inappropriate comments, you ought to be willing to acknowledge that GOP legislators are caught in a no-win situation.

It’s always tempting to tell incumbents of an unpopular president’s party to criticize their own party leader as a way to survive a midterm wave. But that strategy rarely works in competitive congressional districts when the political environment is as bad as it is for Republicans today.

Repeatedly criticizing your own party’s president undermines him, makes his party look divided and ineffective, and risks alienating the party’s grass roots, many of whom still support him. Continue reading “Analysis: The GOP Catch-22 — Donald Trump”

Senate leaders see two-year budget deal within their grasp

The following article by Mike DeBonis and Erica Werner was posted on the Washington Post website February 6, 2018:

President Trump on Feb. 6 said he would “love to see a shutdown” if Congress fails to reach a legislative deal that strengthens immigration enforcement. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Top Senate leaders were working Tuesday to finalize a sweeping long-term budget deal that would include a defense spending boost President Trump has long demanded alongside an increase in domestic programs championed by Democrats.

As negotiations for the long-term deal continued, the House passed a short-term measure that would fund the government past a midnight Thursday deadline and avert a second partial shutdown in less than a month. Continue reading “Senate leaders see two-year budget deal within their grasp”

The immigration bills in Congress aren’t perfect. That’s okay.

The following commentary by the Washington Post Editorial Board was posted on their site February 5, 2018:

© Getty Images

BY TRYING to solve every problem related to America’s immigration system, Congress has repeatedly failed to solve any of them. It’s time to end that legislative dysfunction, which has played on a loop on Capitol Hill for years. Why not sidestep the most incendiary disagreements and target the two main areas on which there is broad bipartisan acceptance: protecting “dreamers” brought to the United States as children and beefing up border security?

The contours of such a deal, if not the details, are within lawmakers’ reach. Similar bipartisan bills to that end now have been introduced in both houses of Congress — this month, by John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) in the Senate and, last month, by Will Hurd (R-Tex.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) in the House. Each deserves a hearing and a vote. Continue reading “The immigration bills in Congress aren’t perfect. That’s okay.”

Trump and Republicans discover the perils of touting the stock market

The following article by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner was posted on the Washington Post February 5, 2018:

The Post’s Heather Long explains what’s going on with the Dow Jones industrial average, which experienced its worst drop in about two years. (Jhaan Elker, Heather Long/The Washington Post)

President Trump and congressional Republicans have spent much of the past year trying to connect a giddy stock market rally with their economic agenda, but stocks’ precipitous plunge in the past five days has delivered a sobering reality: What goes up can come back down — quickly and with little warning.

With Monday’s steep fall, Trump has presided over the biggest stock market drop in U.S. history, when measured by points in the Dow Jones industrial average. The free fall began in earnest Jan. 30 and snowballed Friday and Monday, for a combined loss of almost 2,100 points, or 8 percent of the Dow’s value. Continue reading “Trump and Republicans discover the perils of touting the stock market”

More memos are coming. Here are six questions about ‘Phase Two’ of the Nunes investigation.

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website February 5, 2018:

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, heads for the State of the Union last week. Credit: Joshua Roberts/Reuters

THE BIG IDEA: The memo published Friday may have been the most overhyped dud since Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s empty vault in 1986. But House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, whose Republican staffers prepared the partisan document, promises that it was just the beginning.

He boasted on Friday that he now plans to train his fire on other targets. “We are in the middle of what I call ‘Phase Two’ of our investigation, which involves other departments, specifically the State Department and some of the involvement that they had in this,” the California congressman told Fox News.

“Republicans close to Nunes say there could be as many as five additional memos or reports of ‘wrongdoing,’” Axios reported Sunday night. “A Republican source briefed on Nunes’s investigation” told the site that one of the Democrats he plans to go after next is longtime Bill and Hillary Clinton associate Sid Blumenthal, who has been fending off inquiries from congressional investigators for more than two decades. Continue reading “More memos are coming. Here are six questions about ‘Phase Two’ of the Nunes investigation.”