Tag: GOP congress

Republicans Weigh Ways to Block Trump on Trade Actions

The following article by John T. Bennett and Joe Williams was posted on the Roll Call website January 23, 2018:

Despite concerns about pocketbook effects, president imposes tariffs, bad-mouths trade pacts

President Donald Trump is pursuing his America First approach to trade, even as it makes some Republicans nervous. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Even as members of his own party weigh whether Congress has the authority to push back on his trade actions, President Donald Trump on Tuesday slapped new tariffs on solar panels and washing machines.

“It will provide a strong incentive for LG and Samsung to follow through on their recent promises to build major manufacturing plants for washing machines right here in the United States,” Trump said during an Oval Office signing event, adding the actions “uphold a principle of fair trade and demonstrate to the world that the United States will not be taken advantage of anymore.” That echoes a major theme of his 2016 campaign and the first year of his presidency. Continue reading “Republicans Weigh Ways to Block Trump on Trade Actions”

Another continuing resolution won’t solve the real problem within the Republican Party

The following article by William B. Heller, Associate Professor of Political Science, Binghamton University, State University of New York, and Olga Shvetsova, Professor of Political Science and Economics, Binghamton University, State University of New York, was posted on the Conversation website January 23, 2018:

Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, right, have been working through the snags with their tax bill. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Republicans can’t agree on a budget.

That lack of agreement has made it necessary for Congress to pass a series of continuing resolutions to keep the government open.

There’s no budget agreement because factions within the GOP hold contradictory policy positions on almost every issue. James Madison, an author of the Federalist Papers might have framed the problem this way: The party draws on votes from – and is accountable to – diverse groups of citizens with conflicting interests. That conflict within the Republicans’ voting base means that any policy they propose would hurt at least some of the members’ key constituents. Continue reading “Another continuing resolution won’t solve the real problem within the Republican Party”

Bonuses Aside, Tax Law’s Trickle-Down Impact Not Yet Clear

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website January 22, 2018:

Employees at an Apple retail store in San Francisco in 2016. Apple is among the companies handing out bonuses to workers in the wake of the $1.5 trillion tax cut.CreditNoah Berger/Reuters

WASHINGTON — There are good ways to start measuring how much the Trump tax cuts might be helping American workers. Tracking the bonus announcements flowing from corporations is not one of them.

Those announcements, which include $2,500 in stock grants for Apple employees, up to $1,000 for certain workers at Walmart and $1,000 bonuses for Bank of America employees, are both real money and smart marketing. President Trump and top Republican lawmakers have praised many of the companies that are disclosing tax-cut-fueled bonuses and wage hikes. Continue reading “Bonuses Aside, Tax Law’s Trickle-Down Impact Not Yet Clear”

Trump: Democrats ‘could have easily made a deal’ to avert shutdown

The following article by Alicia Cohn was posted on the Hill website January 20,2018:

Credit: Punyaruk Baingern/Shutterstock.com

On the morning after a government shutdown, President Trump cast blame on Democrats for deciding to “play shutdown politics” when they “could have easily made a deal.”

He also turned the current shutdown into a campaign slogan for the 2018 midterm elections.

“Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border,” Trump tweeted on Saturday morning. “They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!” Continue reading “Trump: Democrats ‘could have easily made a deal’ to avert shutdown”

Looming shutdown raises fundamental question: Can GOP govern?

The following article by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner was posted on the Washington Post website January 18, 2018:

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said that rebuilding the military is his “highest priority,” and characterized the spending disagreements as “melodrama.” (Reuters)

The federal government late Thursday faced increasing odds of a partial shutdown, the culmination of a long period of budget warfare that has now imperiled what most lawmakers agree is the most basic task of governance.

The immediate challenge Thursday was a refusal by Senate Democrats to join with Republicans in passing legislation that would keep the government open for 30 more days while legislators continued to negotiate a longer-term solution. Continue reading “Looming shutdown raises fundamental question: Can GOP govern?”

The Blame Game Over the Shutdown Showdown

The following article by Lindsey McPherson was posted on the Roll Call website January 18, 2018:

Speaker Paul D. Ryan is hunting for votes to keep the government open. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

With less than 36 hours to avoid a shutdown of nonessential government services and no solution in sight, congressional leaders spent Thursday  offering their spin on who will be to blame if a deal cannot be struck.

Notably missing amid the rhetoric — as Republicans pointed to Democrats, while the minority said the majority is at fault — were predictions leaders had made in recent weeks that there would be no government shutdown.

President Donald Trump entered the Pentagon on Thursday for a national security meeting and predicted a government shutdown “could very well be.” Continue reading “The Blame Game Over the Shutdown Showdown”

White House Flips, Flops, Then Flips on Stopgap Spending

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website January 18,2018:

Trump’s tweet sends Hill into spin

President Donald Trump defied his staff by criticizing the inclusion of a provision to extend CHIP in the latest continuing budget resolution. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

President Donald Trump on Thursday undermined efforts by House Republican leaders and his own staff to avoid a government shutdown, criticizing a decision to include an extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in a GOP-crafted stopgap spending bill.

Hours later the White House announced the president supported the House GOP-crafted stopgap spending measure that includes a six-year CHIP extension — despite a confusing morning tweet that raised questions to the contrary.

The president, after first contradicting his own chief of staff via Twitter on Thursday morning, fired off another post expressing his view that a CHIP extension should not be part of a four-week stopgap measure on which the House is slated to vote later in the day. Continue reading “White House Flips, Flops, Then Flips on Stopgap Spending”

Republicans’ no-win choice: Dreamers or defense

The following article by Rachael Bade and Connor O’Brien was posted on the Politico website January 17, 2018:

The government shutdown threat is forcing the party to choose between maintaining a hard line on immigration or spending more on the military.

“I am going to be very hard to deal with if we continue to delay funding the Defense Department,” Sen. Lindsey Graham warned this week. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump and Republican leaders are being forced to choose between two prized conservative priorities as they try to head off a government shutdown: bolstering the military or taking a hard line against immigration.

Democrats’ refusal to strike a long-term budget accord without a deal to shield 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation means Republican can’t have both. They can strike a deal to protect Dreamers, which would upset the base but secure the extra defense spending they’ve pined for. Or they can continue to hold the line against the Obama-era immigration program known as DACA, keep struggling to pass patchwork spending bills, and let the Pentagon limp along with no infusion of money. Continue reading “Republicans’ no-win choice: Dreamers or defense”

Banks Are Big Winners From Tax Cut

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website January 16, 2018:

Big banks like J.P. Morgan are reporting short-term losses as a result of the tax bill but see long-term benefits, including stronger profits, from the overhaul. Credit John Moore/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The nation’s banks are finding a lot to love about the Trump administration’s tax cuts.

The $1.5 trillion tax overhaul signed into law late last year provided deep and lasting tax cuts to all types of businesses, but financial institutions are among the biggest winners so far, reaping benefits from a lower corporate rate and more preferable tax treatment for so-called pass-through companies, which include many small banks.

While some of the biggest banks are reporting fourth-quarter earnings hits stemming from the new tax law, they see rich benefits over the long term, including effective tax rates that are even lower than the new 21 percent corporate rate. Continue reading “Banks Are Big Winners From Tax Cut”

How Republican tax reform eliminated special interest carve-outs — and created a bunch of new ones

The following article by Sam Brodey was posted on the MinnPost website January 17, 2018:

Rep. Erik Paulsen holding a press conference at Insight Brewing in Minneapolis on January 5. Credit: Office of Rep. Erik Paulsen

At Insight Brewing in Minneapolis earlier this month, 3rd District GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen was raising a glass to the Republican tax bill, signed into law by the president just weeks prior.

The assorted craft brewers and beer boosters in the room were, in turn, raising a glass to Paulsen: the Eden Prairie congressman successfully included a provision in the tax legislation that slashes the taxes that brewers — as well as winemakers and distillers — pay to the federal government.

For years, the alcohol industry had been lobbying for lawmakers to cut excise taxes, an additional sales duty they face. In prior sessions of Congress, Paulsen had introduced legislation that would have done just that. That the alcohol tax cuts got wrapped up in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which permanently cuts taxes for corporations and makes other big adjustments to the tax code, is a victory for the booze business and for Paulsen. Continue reading “How Republican tax reform eliminated special interest carve-outs — and created a bunch of new ones”