Tag: GOP congress

Republicans’ horrible week (and not-great year) was entirely predictable

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website October 28, 2017:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said on Oct. 24 that he will not run for reelection in 2018. Flake said the GOP is at risk of becoming a “fearful, backward-looking minority party.” (U.S. Senate)

Nine months into gaining full control of Washington, Republicans are not where they hoped they’d be. Very far from it, actually. They have no major legislative accomplishments to tout. After this week, they are tipping into a civil war. And early polls suggest voters would rather elect a generic Democrat than a generic Republican in next year’s congressional elections.

All of this was entirely predictable  — not that there was much Republican leaders could do about it. And yes, I’m referring to President Trump. But Republicans’ fracturing was evident long before Trump rode down that escalator in Trump Tower two and a half years ago. Continue reading “Republicans’ horrible week (and not-great year) was entirely predictable”

Why Does Trump LOVE Tax Cuts? Because Americans Will Be Writing Him a YUGE Tax-Refund Check

The following article by David Cay Johnston of DC Report was posted on the AlterNet website October 24, 2017:

Here’s the Trump “middle class” tax-cut plan in a nutshell: two-thirds of the tax savings will go to the top 1%.

Trump and his surrogates say they intend to pass a middle-class tax cut this fall. Trump says he won’t be better off because of his tax plan. At times he says he will be worse off.

Nonsense. Pure nonsense.

Based on public statements by Trump, his surrogates and top Republican tax writers on Capitol Hill, what is coming is a tax-cut plan for billionaires. The Trump tax plan focuses on cutting the taxes of those who are self-employed or who own businesses while sticking it to wage and salary workers, even those earning quite generous salaries.

The annual tax savings alone for the 1% will be greater than the incomes earned by about 70% of Americans.

But what else should we expect from Trump and his cadre of rich pals? Trump ran for office promising to “drain the swamp” in Washington. He said that for too long the rich and powerful have been taking care of themselves. He promised to be the champion of the forgotten men and women of America. But like almost everything else, none of what he promised has translated into policy. Rather, we have seen the opposite.

The estimate that the 1% get two-thirds of the tax savings comes from an organization with a long history of reliability with its budget and tax numbers, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). It’s been around since 1980.

For more than two decades that I have studied its reports, subsequent events have shown the institute’s numbers to be rock solid. Indeed, tax policy wonks who work for the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the libertarian Cato Institute have said that while they disagree with how ITEP and its affiliate, Citizens for Tax Justice, interpret the numbers, the numbers themselves are always solid and reliable.

The figures in ITEP’s analysis of the Trump/GOP tax plan are disturbing in the way the plan shovels money at the already rich and tosses crumbs to everyone else. The estimates are based on public statements by Trump, his surrogates and Congressional Republicans.

To figure out how the tax cuts would be distributed, the institute divided the populace into fifths and then broke down the top fifth into 15%, then 4% and then the 1% at the apex of the economy. This is a standard technique in creating what are known as distribution tables.

The middle fifth—the very definition of the middle class—is expected to make $45,000 to $66,000 next year. People in this group will save on average $410 on income taxes, less than one cent out of every dollar earned.

The next fifth, those making $66,000 to $111,000, is in the same under-a-penny crowd. People here can expect to save about $530 each, while the next 15%, those standing on the 81st through 95th steps on the income ladder, will not do even that well. They stand to save just $180 each.

Even those on the 96th through 99th rungs, making $250,000 to $616,000, won’t quite break through the one-cent barrier, saving $3,510 on average.

If you’re at the top of the heap, among the favored 1% who make more than $616,000 a year, you are in for a bonanza. You and your friends—whose incomes average $2.1 million but can run up to the hundreds of millions of dollars—can expect to save an average of more than $90,000, about 4.2 cents for every dollar.

But even within the 1%, the higher into the income stratosphere you go, the greater your tax savings. Trump, who has made more than $100 million some years, will see his tax rate on most income fall from 39.6% to 25%. That’s a tax cut of 14.6 cents on each dollar, $14.6 million.

That’s $14.6 million a year that will not go to providing healthcare to millions of people, upgrade the nation’s nuclear arsenal, pay for soldiers’ funerals, rebuild Puerto Rico, better predict hurricanes, protect endangered species, build a border wall or even cover the Secret Service tab at Mar-a-Lago.

While Trump and his family enjoy big tax savings, the institute estimates that one family in five will pay higher taxes. Separately, Lily Batchelder, a New York University professor of tax law, has estimated that about one in six families will pay more.

Most of those paying more have families with three or more children. Trump plans to take away the exemption parents get for each dependent child. The way they plan to do it, the more children in a family the more they will be hurt, a curious policy for a president with five children by three women.

What You Can Do About It

While the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Representative Kevin Brady, doesn’t care to hear the thoughts of Americans who live outside his Texas district, you can contact his staff. Their names and numbers are here.

The members of the Ways and Means Committee are listed here.

On the Senate side, the Finance Committee is chaired by Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah. A list of members is here.

The Senate Finance Committee staff are at 202-224-4515 or by fax at 202-228-0554.

View the post here.

As GOP Passes Buck on Bump Stocks, ATF Pushes Back

NOTE: This and recent articles on Rep. Ryan backing away from this issue makes us wonder if Rep. Paulsen saying he supports the effort was a “run to the middle” on an issue he knew would go nowhere.  That’s his typical behavior as an election approaches.  

The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website October 25, 2017:

Antoinette Cannon, who worked as a trauma nurse and treated victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, leaves a rose at each of the 58 white crosses at a makeshift memorial on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip earlier this month. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Efforts to ban bump stocks have come to a screeching halt, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives once again indicating it does not have the authority to reclassify and regulate the devices.

The ATF wrote letters in 2010 and 2013 explaining how current laws — the Gun Control Act (1968) and National Firearms Act (1934) — do not provide an avenue for the bureau to regulate the gun attachments, which enable shooters to fire semiautomatic weapons at nearly the rate of automatic ones.

Continue reading “As GOP Passes Buck on Bump Stocks, ATF Pushes Back”

Pence breaks tie to nix Obama-era consumer arbitration rule

The following post by Jordain Carney was posted on the Hill website October 24, 2017:

Credit: Getty Images

Vice President Pence joined with Senate Republicans to nix a controversial consumer bureau rule banning companies from using forced settlements to resolve disputes with customers.

Senators voted 50-50 on the resolution of disapproval. GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and John Kennedy (La.) joined with Democrats to oppose cutting the Obama-era rule.

Pence then took over the presiding officer’s chair and cast the tie-breaking vote to make the total 51-50.

Continue reading “Pence breaks tie to nix Obama-era consumer arbitration rule”

Courting Democratic Ire, Republicans Open New Obama-Era Inquiries

The following article by Nicholas Fandos was posted on the New York Times website October 24, 2017:

Representatives Peter T. King of New York, Devin Nunes of California and Ron DeSantis of Florida, all Republicans, announced new investigations on Tuesday in Washington. Credit Mark Wilson/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday announced investigations into two of President Trump’s most frequent grievances, unveiling new inquiries into actions of the Obama administration connected to Hillary Clinton.

In the first of two back-to-back announcements, the top Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees said they would formally examine the Obama Justice Department’s investigation of Mrs. Clinton’s emails. Less than an hour later, Republicans from the Intelligence and Oversight Committees said they were opening a separate inquiry into the administration’s approval of a 2010 agreement that left a Russian-backed company in control of much of the United States’ uranium. Continue reading “Courting Democratic Ire, Republicans Open New Obama-Era Inquiries”

Doubtful Science Behind Arguments to Restrict Birth Control Access

The following article by Aaron E. Carroll was posted on the New York Times website October 10, 2017:

In a new rule about coverage of contraception, the Trump administration argues against the positives of birth control and highlights potential harms. But those claims don’t stand up to scrutiny.

The new rule weakens the mandate for health coverage of contraception under the Affordable Care Act, giving more leeway to employers with religious or moral objections. It’s a move with many legal and economic implications, but my interest here is with the science — specifically with the assertions made by the Department of Health and Human Services about the benefits and harms from contraception. Continue reading “Doubtful Science Behind Arguments to Restrict Birth Control Access”

A ‘pressure cooker’: Trump’s frustration and fury rupture alliances, threaten agenda

The following article by Robert Costa, Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker was posted on the Washington Post website October 9, 2017:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) called the White House “an adult day care center,” but he isn’t the only senator who has questioned President Trump’s temperament. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Frustrated by his Cabinet and angry that he has not received enough credit for his handling of three successive hurricanes, President Trump is now lashing out, rupturing alliances and imperiling his legislative agenda, numerous White House officials and outside advisers said Monday.

In a matter of days, Trump has torched bridges all around him, nearly imploded an informal deal with Democrats to protect young undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, and plunged himself into the culture wars on issues ranging from birth control to the national anthem. Continue reading “A ‘pressure cooker’: Trump’s frustration and fury rupture alliances, threaten agenda”

GOP-Trump Tax Framework Would Provide Richest One Percent in Minnesota with 62.2 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts

The following article was posted on the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy website October 4, 2017:

The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would not benefit everyone in Minnesota equally. The richest one percent of Minnesota residents would receive 62.2 percent of the tax cuts within the state under the framework in 2018. These households are projected to have an income of at least $632,000 next year. The framework would provide them an average tax cut of $65,780 in 2018, which would increase their income by an average of 2.5 percent.

The framework would particularly benefit those with incomes greater than $1 million. These households will make up just 0.7 percent of Minnesota’s population but would receive 55.2 percent of the tax cuts if the plan was in effect next year. This group would receive an average tax cut of $78,600 in 2018 alone, which would increase their income by an average of 2.8 percent. Continue reading “GOP-Trump Tax Framework Would Provide Richest One Percent in Minnesota with 62.2 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts”

DFL Chair Martin Calls on Republicans to Restore CHIP Funding

Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Chairman Ken Martin wrote the following column in the St. Cloud Times calling on Republicans to restore funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Amid frantic efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress missed the deadline to renew funding for this critical program, which provides health coverage to 125,000 children in Minnesota.

Republicans must restore CHIP funds

While Republicans temporarily called off efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they unfortunately still managed to jeopardize the health care of millions of Americans.

They were so busy trying to ram through a repeal bill that they dropped the ball on providing health coverage for nearly 9 million kids. The Republican-controlled Congress failed to renew funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program by its Sept. 30 deadline.

This program provides comprehensive, affordable health insurance for low-income children not covered by Medicaid. CHIP is one of the few federal programs that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support since its creation in 1997.

Minnesotan families count on CHIP. The program helps pay for doctor’s visits, immunizations and dental care for more than 125,000 children in Minnesota. It provides parents with the relief that comes from knowing their child can see a doctor and lead a healthy life. The program’s funding also pays for care for roughly 1,700 low-income pregnant women in our state.

Congress was closing in on a deal to extend CHIP funding last month. But all that work came grinding to a halt as Republicans fixated on ramming through a health care repeal bill before Sept. 30. The health of millions of children fell to the wayside.

If funding isn’t restored soon, doctors will have to start turning young patients away. The situation is particularly dire here in Minnesota. Our state’s program is already running dry. Minnesota’s Department of Health Services reports it will have to take “extraordinary measures” to continue providing children coverage through October.

The health of thousands of Minnesota kids hangs in the balance. Democrats stand ready to work with the Republican majority to fund this critical program. Republicans must make up for the time they wasted, do the right thing, and take immediate action to protect Minnesota kids.

Republicans Struggle to Define Whom Their Tax Overhaul Will Help

The following article by Joe Williams was posted on the Hill website October 6, 2017:

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker supports a tax overhaul that won’t increase the deficit and promotes growth. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Echoes of failed health care effort in senators’ lack of specificity on tax goals

Senate Republicans are still weighing who specifically will benefit from their pending overhaul of the U.S. tax code.

When asked, many were unable to communicate exactly which income brackets they would want to see reductions directed toward, instead opting to use catch-all phrases such as “hard-working Americans” or “ordinary people.” Continue reading “Republicans Struggle to Define Whom Their Tax Overhaul Will Help”