Tag: U.S. House

Hits on federal retirement advance as bill is introduced to fire feds for ‘no cause at all’

The following article by Joe Davidson was posted on the Washington Post website July 21, 2017:

House Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black (R-Tenn.) listens as budget committee lawmakers deliver statements on the American Health Care Act during a meeting in March. (Shawn Thew/EPA)

House Republicans greeted current and future federal employees with two controversial body blows in recent days — one amounts to a pay cut and the other would allow new feds to be fired for “no cause at all.”

The House Budget Committee approved a spending plan that would save the government $163.5 billion over 10 years by taking that amount from federal employees. They would pay that in the form of “greater contributions to their own defined benefit retirement plans,” according to the panel’s budget document.

Republicans call their plan “Building a Better America.”  But the Americans now working to build a better country through their federal jobs would be called on to sacrifice again, as they have repeatedly over the years.

“Since 2010, these employees have already lost $182 billion in pay and benefits,” Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a letter to the committee. Those losses occurred through measures including a partial three-year pay freeze and previous retirement hits under the Obama administration. Continue reading “Hits on federal retirement advance as bill is introduced to fire feds for ‘no cause at all’”

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”

Secretary Ben Carson made a comparison to slaves coming to the United States as immigrants, saying America was the only country “big enough” to allow them to realize their dreams.

The following column by Michael Hiltzik was posted on the L.A. Times website March 6, 2017:

After weeks of expectations — actually, nearly seven years of expectations — House Republicans on Monday released their proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Elements of the proposal, which was kept under lock and key last week — have been dribbling out for a few days. The text of the bill encompassing the GOP plan validates much of that reporting. On the whole, however, it’s a nastier, more consumer-unfriendly proposal than even close followers could have expected. Continue reading “Secretary Ben Carson made a comparison to slaves coming to the United States as immigrants, saying America was the only country “big enough” to allow them to realize their dreams.”

Obamacare “Replacement”

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountability website March 7, 2017:


The Republicans released their replacement of Obamacare Monday afternoon. Here are the most important takeaways:

  1. The plan includes tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans
  2. There will be less financial support for older and poorer Americans
  3. Because there is less money raised in taxes, many Americans will effectively lose their coverage
  4. Republicans crafted the plan in secrecy (even their own members didn’t know the full details)
  5. The full impact of the plan is not clear because it has not been scored by the Congressional Budget Office

Winners: Wealthy Americans and insurance companies

Losers: Older and poorer Americans

Call your representatives to demand that full hearings and town halls be held to review the impact of the bill before it’s too late.

Under-the-radar change to congressional ethics watchdog may weaken it

The following article by Elise Viebeck was posted on the Washington Post website February 8, 2017:

Speaker of the House Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) speaks during a news conference after the weekly House Republican caucus meeting. (Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency)

In early January, House Republicans’ effort to weaken an independent ethics monitor was thought to have failed after then-President-elect Donald Trump intervened with a pair of tweetsquestioning the GOP’s priorities and timing.

But in fact, one change to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) slipped through shortly afterward at the behest of Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), little noticed by anyone but the OCE itself and good-government groups that fear it could undermine the office’s work. Continue reading “Under-the-radar change to congressional ethics watchdog may weaken it”

House Republicans Avoid Voting on a Resolution Stating That the Holocaust Targeted Jews

The following article by Osita Nwanevu was posted on the Slate website February 7, 2017:

Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images

House Republicans blocked a resolution advanced by Democrats on Tuesday declaring that Jews were the primary victims of the Holocaust. From the Washington Examiner:

Led by [House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe] Crowley, Democrats tried to force the House to vote on the resolution he introduced last week calling on the White House “to affirm that the Nazi regime targeted the Jewish people in its perpetration of the Holocaust.” More than 100 House Democrats co-sponsored the measure. Continue reading “House Republicans Avoid Voting on a Resolution Stating That the Holocaust Targeted Jews”