Tag: GOP war on the middle class

Democrats Attack Tax Bill as a ‘Middle-Class Con Job’

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website October 29, 2017:

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, left, the ranking member on the Finance Committee, and other senators met with President Trump at the White House this month. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Republicans will pitch their tax bill this week as a gift to the middle class, but Democrats will call it a Trojan horse: a windfall for big business and the rich dressed as a tax cut for workers.

The tensions over who will benefit from the sweeping tax rewrite were on display during an hourlong meeting last week between President Trump and Senate Finance Committee members. Democrats who attended, including many whose states Mr. Trump won, said the president agreed with every point raised on the subject of tax cuts for the middle class. At the end of the meeting, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon told Mr. Trump that the tax bill Republicans were drafting would not deliver on his promises to the middle class and would instead benefit corporations and high earners.

Mr. Trump looked at his top economic advisers, waved his hand, and said, “Take care of it,” Mr. Wyden recalled in an interview. Continue reading “Democrats Attack Tax Bill as a ‘Middle-Class Con Job’”

Emmer, Paulsen, and Lewis decide the deficit isn’t so important after all

The following article by Susan Du was posted on the CityPages website October 27, 2017:

Credit:  Jared Yamahata

Minnesota’s three Republican congressmen — Tom Emmer, Jason Lewis, and Erik Paulsen — share an essential creed. Americans are being overtaxed. Government spending is out of control. And the national debt — now at $20 trillion — is an outrage.

Paulsen has called the debt the “single biggest threat to national security.”

Lewis vowed in May to “protect our children’s future from Washington’s unsustainable and reckless spending … by funding programs that actually work for Americans and making sensible reforms to tackle the debt.”

In fact, paying down the debt is so important to both him and Emmer, both voted against spending on hurricane disaster relief. That’s the definition of sticking to your principles. Continue reading “Emmer, Paulsen, and Lewis decide the deficit isn’t so important after all”

Republican Representative Paulsen Votes for Budget Cuts that Will Hurt Minnesotan Families

Credit: Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

Republican Representatives Tom Emmer, Erik Paulsen, and Jason Lewis today voted to pass a budget that will hurt Minnesotan families. The budget makes drastic cuts to vital programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. It eliminates the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, which saves Minnesotans thousands of dollars per year. On top of that, it is predicted to increase the budget deficit by at least $1.5 trillion.

“A budget is a moral document, and the Republican budget is a moral failure,” DFL Chairman Ken Martin said. “Minnesotans deserve a budget that ensures financial stability for the country–and for their family. This document does neither. It cuts critical programs that help working families keep food on the table while putting our nation on the path of economic disaster. Republican Representatives Emmer, Paulsen, and Lewis must be held accountable for voting for this misguided budget that will harm the nation’s economy, and Minnesotan’s pocketbooks.” Continue reading “Republican Representative Paulsen Votes for Budget Cuts that Will Hurt Minnesotan Families”

Sen. Cassidy’s rebuttal to Jimmy Kimmel: ‘More people will have coverage’

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website September 21, 2017:

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel attacked the Cassidy-Graham health-care plan on Sept. 19 and 20, and hit back at Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) for failing his own standard, “the Kimmel test.” (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

“I’m sorry he doesn’t understand. Under Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson, more people will have coverage.”
–Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), interviewed on CNN’s “New Day,” Sept. 20, 2017

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel attacked Cassidy over the health-care repeal plan crafted by Cassidy and Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.),  Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) as a last-ditch effort to replace the Affordable Care Act. Kimmel asserted, among other things, that the proposed law “will kick about 30 million Americans off insurance.” Continue reading “Sen. Cassidy’s rebuttal to Jimmy Kimmel: ‘More people will have coverage’”

Tax Propaganda

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website August 10, 2017:

TaxPropaganda2

Republican tax reform advocates and the Trump White House have taken note of the mistakes made during the hapless Obamacare repeal effort that culminated in failure in the Senate. One of the biggest mistakes Republicans made was an inability to make the case to the broader population that their replacement was going to be in any way better.

Tax reform advocates friendly to the Republican agenda have already begun a campaign to help the Republican leadership deliver talking points about the need for tax reform. The American Action Network recently launched a 15 second video across national cable platforms featuring Albert Jones, a laid off metal worker from Ohio, who claims that he lost his job because of the U.S. tax code. Continue reading “Tax Propaganda”

Action on Trump’s tax cut plan could be delayed until next year

The following article by Damian Paletta and Kelsey Snell was posted on the the Washington Post website August 1, 2017:

The White House’s push to quickly pass a major package of tax cuts through Congress is facing a fall calendar full of legislative land mines, potentially delaying a key part of President Trump’s agenda into at least 2018.

The Trump administration sees tax cuts as an achievable victory after a string of failed attempts to pass other parts of the president’s legislative agenda, as well as a proposal that could unite a party fractured over Senate Republicans’ failure last week to vote through a repeal of parts of the Affordable Care Act. Continue reading “Action on Trump’s tax cut plan could be delayed until next year”

3 Things to Watch on Tax Reform

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website July 31, 2017:

With TrumpCare flopping like a dying fish in the bottom of a boat, the Trump administration and Congress are trying to turn the page and prepare for the next legislative challenge: taxes. It’s important to note that the Republican leadership and President Trump are occasionally conflating the terms tax reform and tax cuts. While tax reform could include a reduction in taxes for some or many Americans, true tax reform involves many, many difficult decisions. Here are three things to be aware of as Washington turns its attention to making the tax code they created “simpler and fairer.”

Continue reading “3 Things to Watch on Tax Reform”

House Budget Would Raise Borrowing Costs for the Middle Class

The following article by Antionette Flores and Michela Zonta was posted on the Center for American Progress website July 31, 2017:

College students walk across campus for class, February 2017. Credit: AP/Bebeto Matthews

The budget proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week would put fundamental aspects of the American dream—attending college and buying a home—further out of reach for many families. By using a budgeting gimmick called “fair-value accounting,” instead of the accounting methods prescribed by the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (FCRA), House Republicans are intentionally making the costs of federal lending appear more expensive. The latest House budget plan, for example, would add $326 billion in fictional costs to the federal deficit due to fair-value accounting.

This column explains what fair-value accounting is, why it’s an inaccurate way to estimate costs, and what it could mean for Americans with student loans and home mortgages. Instead of undermining federal lending through budget trickery, Congress should focus its energy on solidifying the programs and lowering costs for working families. Continue reading “House Budget Would Raise Borrowing Costs for the Middle Class”

How Paul Ryan’s Hypocritical Fiscal Hysteria Threatens Working Families

The following article by Harry Stein was posted on the Center for American Progress website July 17, 2017:

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 10, 2017.

After years of hysterical warnings about budget deficits under former President Barack Obama, Republican congressional leaders suddenly seem to have shed their concern for the deficit. In The Atlantic, Russell Berman questions whether “deficits still matter to Republicans” under President Donald Trump.1

While this changing approach to budget deficits is certainly hypocritical, it continues a consistent pattern of selectively using fiscal hysteria as a weapon to attack programs for low- and middle-income Americans. A recent article by this author for Harvard Law and Policy Review defines fiscal hysteria as “exaggerating the impacts of deficits and debt, thereby underestimating the extent to which the United States can afford to solve problems facing the American people.”2 While fiscal hysteria does not actually lead to sustainable fiscal policy—since it tends to be deployed selectively for political gain—it does lead to policies that enrich those at the top at the expense of everyone else.3 Continue reading “How Paul Ryan’s Hypocritical Fiscal Hysteria Threatens Working Families”

How the Rich Gain and the Poor Lose Under the Senate Republican Health Care Plan

The following article by Haeyoun Park and Margot Sanger-Katz was posted on the New York Times website July 11, 2017:

A family making more than $200,000 a year would gain $5,420 on average by 2026, while a family making less than $10,000 a year would lose $2,550 if the Senate Republican health care bill becomes law, according to a new analysis.

Average net change in federal tax and
health benefits in 2026 for a family earning:

The analysis, from the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, looked at the combined impact of changes proposed under the draft Republican plan, including repealing Obamacare taxes, cutting Medicaid funding and changing the system of government subsidies for people who buy their own insurance.

Continue reading “How the Rich Gain and the Poor Lose Under the Senate Republican Health Care Plan”