The following article by Will Drabold was posted on the mic.com website November 28, 2017:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) holds a news conference to talk about the Republican tax plan. J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Amid protest on Capitol Hill, a Republican senator Tuesday afternoon said that the GOP needs to pass its tax bill soon to avoid it being killed by mounting opposition.
“Time is not our friend here,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told a gaggle of reporters on his way to a Senate committee meeting to vote on advancing the GOP tax bill.
The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website November 28, 2017:
Go-it-alone approach could work on taxes, but not government funding
President Donald Trump and GOP leaders are going it alone on their tax effort, but they need Democrats on resolving spending disputes. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Following on what he called a “love fest” with Senate Republicans at a lunchtime Capitol meeting, President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed momentum on a GOP-led overhaul of the tax code and swiped at Democrats whom he will need to get any sort of resolution to a rapidly approaching standoff over government spending.
NOTE: Rep. Erik Paulsen voted FOR the GOP tax bill.
Mitch McConnell (Credit: Reuters/Joshua Roberts)
The following article by Alex Rowell and Andrew Schwartz was posted on the Center for American Progress website November 27, 2017:
Senate Republicans have put forward a tax plan that would give corporations a permanent tax cut while raising taxes on millions of families. The plan would be a windfall for the richest Americans: In 2027, nearly 62 percent of its benefits would accrue to the top 1 percent. Yet, many families would end up paying more at tax time. And because the bill would increase the deficit by more than $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years, it would trigger automatic cuts to important government programs—including $25 billion in cuts to Medicare in 2018—resulting in additional burdens on working- and middle-class families. Continue reading “Millions of Working- and Middle-Class Americans Would See a Tax Increase Under the Senate GOP Tax Plan”
The White House and GOP leaders are scrambling to win over Republican senators who are concerned that the tax legislation could blow up the deficit or would not provide enough help to small businesses.
Much of the focus on Monday was centered on Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who is pressing for changes to the bill that would help “pass-through” businesses.
A larger group of undecided Republicans appears to be seeking changes that would aim to limit the bill’s impact on the national debt.
Senate Republican leaders are planning to vote Wednesday on a motion to proceed to the tax bill, but a handful of Republicans have not taken a hard stance yet. Republican leadership can only afford to lose two votes, assuming all members of the Democratic caucus vote against it.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters Monday that he expects leadership to offer a series of amendments to the bill on the floor.
“This is a dynamic process,” he said.
While Republicans across the board say they want to vote for the tax bill, some are pushing for changes before committing their support.
Daines on Monday became the second GOP senator to oppose the current version of the legislation, joining Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in protesting that the bill treats corporations better than pass-through businesses.
Pass-throughs are companies such as sole proprietorships and partnerships that are taxed through the individual code. Most U.S. businesses, including many small businesses, are pass-through entities.
The Senate tax bill would create a 17.4 percent deduction for pass-through income, but pass-throughs would see less of a tax cut than corporations, which would get their rate slashed from 35 percent to 20 percent.
“I want to see changes to the tax cut bill that ensure main street businesses are not put at a competitive disadvantage against large corporations,” Daines said in a statement. “Two-thirds of our job creation comes from main street businesses and I’m doing what I can to make sure all of America is stronger and more competitive. Before I can support this bill, this improvement needs to be made.”
Johnson told Wisconsin reporters Monday that he would vote against the bill in the Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday afternoon if a change to the pass-through provision hasn’t been made by then.
“I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen in committee; we’re working diligently to fix the problem,” he said. “If we develop a fix prior to committee, I’ll probably support it but if we don’t, I’ll vote against it.”
A no vote from Johnson could be a big setback for Republicans because they only have a one-seat majority on the Budget Committee.
Senate GOP leaders and administration officials have been trying to address the concerns of Daines and Johnson, possibly by increasing the pass-through deduction to 20 percent.
President Trump tweeted that with a few changes to the tax bill, “the pass through provision becomes simpler and really works well!”
A handful of other GOP senators have not taken a hard stance on the tax bill yet because they are worried about the measure’s impact on the debt.
“I would very much like to support it. We have got to get some things all worked out, and those are all in process,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said during a news conference Monday.
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the bill in its current form would add about $1.4 trillion to the deficit in its first 10 years. Republicans have said that they expect increased economic growth produced by the tax cuts to generate additional revenue that would offset some or all of the deficit increases.
But Lankford said he would like to see a “backstop” if the economic growth targets aren’t hit. He said he’s looking at a number of options for what such a provision would look like.
“I believe that we should not only take the best guesses that we can get out there from the best economists and be able to look at it, but we should build in the what if,” he said. “What if this doesn’t work? What changes might be needed in the tax code in the days ahead to be able to adjust in what scenario? So if the revenue is not coming in, should the rates change?”
Lankford said he’s had “good conversations” with other lawmakers about the tax bill.
“The conversations have all been extremely productive,” he said.
Besides Lankford, several other GOP lawmakers have raised concerns about the impact of the tax bill on the debt, including Sens. Jerry Moran(Kan.), Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.).
Corker and Flake both decided against seeking reelection in 2018 and have been outspoken critics of Trump. Still, they both backed the Senate’s efforts to repeal ObamaCare and maintained that their votes on tax legislation would be unrelated to any personal issues they have with the president.
Concerns about the deficit may have a bigger influence on the ultimate Senate bill than they did in the House, where only one GOP lawmaker, Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.), voted against legislation because of debt concerns.
On the other hand, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday came out in support of the Senate GOP tax bill, in part because the bill is not revenue neutral.
“I spoke out all year against the GOP leaders’ initial plan to make their tax reform ‘revenue neutral’ — meaning not really a cut,” he said in a Fox News op-ed. “I’m pleased to see my point of view has prevailed, and the current tax plan calls for a $1.5 trillion cut over the next ten years.”
In addition to the deficit hawks, Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have also not yet announced their positions on the bill.
Collins has expressed concerns about a provision that would repeal the individual insurance mandate in ObamaCare. Murkowski supports repealing the mandate but hasn’t yet endorsed the full bill.
The Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday to consider the tax bill and legislation allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and combine them into one bill. ANWR drilling is a top priority for Murkowski.
Trump is planning to rally GOP senators on taxes on Tuesday, when he attends the Senate Republicans’ lunch. He is also planning to sell the tax bill on Wednesday during a speech in Missouri.
The following article by Rebecca Vallas, Rebecca Cokley and Eliza Schultz was posted on the Center for American Progress website November 27, 2017:
President Donald Trump walks with House Speaker Paul Ryan, November 2017. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin
Throughout 2017, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have continually taken aim at the health, well-being, and independence of Americans with disabilities. From repeated attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and end Medicaid as we know it to budget proposals that slash Social Security disability benefits, disability employment services, Meals on Wheels, and more, the agenda Trump and his colleagues in Congress are pursuing would be nothing short of a disaster for people with disabilities. The latest attack comes in the form of their partisan tax plan, which passed the House on November 16 and is set to be voted on in the Senate as soon as this week.
Although they have sold the plan as a Christmas present for the middle class, under the Senate bill, a staggering 87 million* middle- and working-class families would see their taxes rise by 2027. Meanwhile, the top 0.1 percent would receive an average tax cut of $208,060. Furthermore, by repealing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate, the tax plan would also undermine the individual insurance market, driving up premiums and leaving 13 million more Americans without health insurance by 2025. Continue reading “The Republican Tax Plan Is a Tax on Disability”
The following article by David Hawkings was posted on the Roll Call website November 27, 2017:
A few Republicans clinging to old party orthodoxy could doom Trump’s big win
Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney has said “a lot of this is a gimmick,” referring to the tax bill’s expiration dates for some of the lower rates. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
This apparent contradiction confronts Congress as it returns for a grueling month of legislating: The Republicans who run the Capitol, so many of whom came to Washington as avatars of fiscal responsibility, are going to spend the rest of the year working to make a worsening federal balance sheet look even worse.
December holds the potential for a productivity breakthrough, but it also threatens to end in embarrassing deadlock — which is why the clear consensus within the upper reaches of the congressional GOP is that it’s the right time to get comfortable with any feelings of hypocritical guilt.
The party’s acute political need to be seen as starting to make something with their unified government before the dawn of the midterm campaign season, the leadership and President Donald Trump have made plain, will need to take precedence over the demands of the relatively few remaining deficit hawks trying to push the party back toward its traditional core values of balancing budgets and holding the line on borrowing. Continue reading “An Old Saw’s New Twist: Death (of the Deficit Hawks) and Taxes”
The GOP tax plan that is speeding through Congress could deliver a much-needed win for the White House, but it could also kill one of Trump’s other top priorities: legislation to rebuild U.S. infrastructure.
Not only would the tax overhaul use up one of the potential funding options for repairing infrastructure, it would also eliminate a financing tool that states have used to back a wide range of infrastructure projects.
The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website November 26, 2017:
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) had a tense exchange during a markup of the GOP tax bill on Nov. 16. (Senate Finance Committee)
The Senate Republican tax plan gives substantial tax cuts and benefits to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, while the nation’s poorest would be worse off, according to a reportreleased Sunday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The following article by Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website November 26, 2017:
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is surrounded by reporters as he goes to vote on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Susan Walsh/AP)
Senate Republicans are seriously considering several last-minute changes to their tax legislation in an effort to mollify wavering members, four people familiar with the discussions said, as GOP leaders seek to keep their members from defecting ahead of crucial votes this week.
The lawmakers attracting the most concern from leadership and the White House are Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who say the current version of the bill favors corporations over other businesses.
There are numerous members demanding changes, and their desires don’t all overlap. Together, the requests put Republican leaders in a difficult position, as they attempt to accommodate individual holdouts on a one-off basis without losing other members or creating a situation in which the bill collapses under the weight of disparate demands. Continue reading “GOP leaders in advanced talks to change tax plan in bid to win over holdouts”
Modern conservatives have been lying about taxes pretty much from the beginning of their movement. Made-up sob stories about family farms broken up to pay inheritance taxes, magical claims about self-financing tax cuts, and so on go all the way back to the 1970s. But the selling of tax cuts under Trump has taken things to a whole new level, both in terms of the brazenness of the lies and their sheer number. Both the depth and the breadth of the dishonesty make it hard even for those of us who do this for a living to keep track.
You knew this was coming when the president* tweeted out how proud he was that his tax plan was praised by Arthur Laffer, the cocktail-napkin Kreskin of supply-side economics, the original sorcerer who concocted the spells that produced those magical tax cuts, and, finally, the guy who fed the Republican Party a bowl of the very tastiest monkeybrains. The prion disease’s first symptom was the adoption of what Poppy Bush called, correctly, the “voodoo economics” of Ronald Reagan’s first budget. The Republican Party bought into an economic theory that was just as detached from reality as anything Reagan ever said about trees and air pollution, or anything the current president* has said about anything. Continue reading “To Regain Its Sanity, the Republican Party Must Give Up Voodoo Economics”
