“This is the worst bill to ever come to the floor of the House, with stiff competition for what some of the things they’ve tried to do,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. “The worst bill in history.”
Senate Republicans pass $1.5 trillion tax-cut plan on party-line vote
House revote expected Wednesday; reform to be sent to Trump for signature
By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times - Wednesday, December 20, 2017
The Senate early Wednesday passed the Republicans’ $1.5 trillion tax-cut plan, putting it closer to President Trump’s desk with an additional House vote expected Wednesday.
Senate Democrats managed to strike several provisions from a House-passed bill on procedural grounds, but Republicans nevertheless expect to send a final measure to Mr. Trump shortly to fulfill his top legislative priority and complete the most significant rewrite of the tax code in three decades.
“Many of us in this body have been waiting years for this opportunity, and millions of Americans outside of this body have been waiting even longer,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The Senate passed the slightly modified plan on a 51-48 vote after the House passed its bill earlier in the day on a 227-203 vote. The procedural hiccup is not expected to significantly delay the proceedings, as the House is expected to take up the Senate-passed version Wednesday.
The action will complete a once-unthinkable timeline to get a tax bill through Congress before Christmas, and comes less than two months after House Republicans released their initial legislative text of the tax bill.
The final package cuts the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. It trims individual rates and lowers the top rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent, but makes the individual cuts temporary in order to comply with Senate budget rules that imposed a $1.5 trillion cost limit.
On average, taxpayers across all income levels will see an income tax cut next year, but thanks to the phaseouts would start to see an increase long-term, according to congressional scorekeepers.
Republicans say they anticipate that future Congresses will simply extend the individual cuts.
The plan generally maintains the current progressivity of the tax code, with the top 20 percent of taxpayers paying 65 percent of the taxes next year and the top 5 percent accounting for 50 percent of the taxes.
It winds down various loopholes and exemptions while expanding others, including the child tax credit, which was a change demanded by Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah.
The package also repeals Obamacare’s individual mandate — partially making good on the GOP’s repeated pledges to repeal the law — and opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil drilling, which is a long-sought goal of Alaska lawmakers and many other Republicans.
Republicans say they’re moving quickly because they want taxpayers to feel the changes in their paychecks as early as February.
But there’s also a numbers issue, as the GOP ranks in the Senate will drop from 52 members to 51 once Sen.-elect Doug Jones of Alabama is sworn in, which would narrow an already tight window for passage there.
Republicans also say they need to deliver something to the voters who gave them full control of Washington, D.C., and do so ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, particularly after they failed to repeal Obamacare in its entirety this year.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday waved aside polling that has shown the plan isn’t all that popular, saying that public distortions might be dragging down the numbers.
“When you have a slingfest, a mudfest on TV, when pundits are slamming each other about this tax bill before it passes, that’s what’s going to happen,” Mr. Ryan said. “Results are going to make this popular.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have cast the plan as a giveaway to the wealthy, and say Republicans are rushing the process because they don’t want Americans to actually know what’s in the bill.
“This is the worst bill to ever come to the floor of the House, with stiff competition for what some of the things they’ve tried to do,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. “The worst bill in history.”
The Democrats and Never-Trumpers are 100% wrong.
ReplyDelete.
Delete:o)
Lordy.
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Tuesday during a press conference on Capitol Hill as the House of Representatives passed the tax bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Republicans would “rue the day they passed this bill.”
ReplyDeleteSchumer said, “This tax bill will be an anchor around the ankles of every Republican. If they haven’t learned it yet, they will learn it next November. Republicans will rue the day they passed this bill and Americans will never let them forget it.”
He added, “What has been sold as a job creator and wage booster will, of course, do little of either as companies are already initiating stock buybacks worth hundreds of millions of dollars instead of hiring more workers and raising wages. Ultimately, Republicans have taken what they called a once-in-a-generation opportunity on tax reform and squandered it on corporate welfare and tax cuts for the rich.”
😊😊😊
NeverTrumpers like Quirk don't like 4 percent growth. It creates too many jobs, ruins the environment, I suppose he might say.....
ReplyDeletePump nother $2.2 TRILLION of Federal debt into the economy ...
ReplyDeleteBring in that $2 to §4 trillion invested 'off shore' and you will pine for the days when 4% inflation was considwred low
It's back to the days of Ford and Carter. High inflation is the only thing guaranteed by this tav hiike on the Middle and Low income wage earners
Another Wall Street bailout by the Swamp Kings of DC.
DeleteMr Trump has and is violating his campaign promises.
That fact that Carried Interwst remains in the Tax Code an illustration of the lack of verasity in anything that Donald Trump says.
The two separated at birth genius twins of Bush and Obama, blew 10 trillion in debt and cranked growth down to 2%.
DeleteHillary was plan B.
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ReplyDeleteAnd the Trumpkins shout, "Thank you, sir, may I have another? Harder, harder!"
Think about it. This is not tax reform, it's simply a major tax cut targeted for the rich. 83% will go to the GOP's major constituency and believe me that ain't us. Trump promised to eliminate the 'carried interest' loophole; yet GOP leadership in the Senate wouldn't let that subject come to the floor as they were drafting the bill. In moments of honesty, some members of the GOP admit that it was the lobbyist that wrote this bill.
The GOP has been trying supply side, trickle down economics for decades and the numbers to support it just aren't there. If you were running a business, ask yourself this question, 'in the absence of an increase in demand are you going to invest millions (billions?) in new plant and equipment and hire people for new jobs that may or may not appear or are you going to build up your cash position, buy back stock, increase dividends and executive salaries and possible buy other businesses none of which will create jobs and may even eliminate them?'
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Delete'Build it and they will come' may work in some fantasy dream movie but it doesn't work in real life.
The American people are the ones who spend the money, who create the demand. It only makes sense that if you want to spur growth you put the money in the hands of people who will spend it and produce the multiplier effect. There are just so many million dollar homes and yachts the rich are going to buy.
Despite this, the GOP and Trump have nothing but contempt for the little guy. Trump said he doesn't want poor people in his administration. Grassley, the elitist prick, ridicules those who have to spend every penny they make.
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Movies, Quirk, those poor, economicly nonviable and politically polarized people go to movies!
DeleteThe audacity ... To complain about Corporate Bailouts while munching on popcorn and watching The Darkest Hour ... Have those peasants no shame?
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ReplyDeleteTrump's Poodle
There is little doubt that Putin and Xi have taken the measure of Donald Trump and know exactly how to bend him to their wishes. They simple complement him, tell him how great he is, how much better he is than Obama and other US presidents, thank him for everything no matter how trivial, and then proceed as if he wasn't there. Some have called Trump Putin's poodle.
It's also apparent that the lesson hasn't been lost on Mike Pence.
Trump had the press in for his cabinet meeting today and near the end he asked Pence to say a few words. Pence stood up and proceeded to try to out-Uriah Heep Uriah Heep in his obsequious groveling towards Trump. He went on at length in fawning and servile praise of Trump and the new tax plan. The man needs to get a drool cup to catch his slobbering from his unctuous pandering. It's embarrassing.
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The Republicans in the Senate needs for Mr Pence to look like a resonable alternative, before they will vote to impeach Mr Trump, come 2019.
DeleteNo time to do an "Agnew" on Pence. The Dems will want him bloodied, though.
Mr Pence will need Trump's 34% come his Presidental reelection try, in 2020.
Reelecting a President elevated by Presidential removal for cause didn't work for Jerry Ford, doubt if it works for Mike Pence.
Though he does pray for assistance from those that can provide it.
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DeleteRight, the Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch.
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Poor chickie Schumer was complaining on the floor of the Senate that no one was paying any attention to his anti Trump tax rant ! Hohoho
ReplyDeleteSounds like Quirk being ignored!;!
Hohoho hohoho hi !!!!
You were paying attention, moran.
DeleteWhatever happened to your Google account?
Forget the password, again?
Terminal feeble mindedness?
Or just an incompetent, merely a place saver in the 21st century.
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ReplyDeletePhase II
The tax cut is merely Phase I in the plan. Getting the tax cuts has been the GOP wet dream forever. They have now passed it.
Now, Phase II will kick in. Phase I will be used as the excuse for Phase II, paying for the hit to the budget and the debt.
Trump and the GOP leadership have already started talking about 'Entitlement Reform'. Oops, sorry, 'entitlement' is now one of the forbidden words dropped from government-speak. They will begin speaking of 'welfare-reform', a term people who have paid into these systems for most of their life might find objectionable, as a way to pay for the tax cuts for the rich.
They also talk about efforts to save money by making the system more efficient and cost affective by giving money to the states through block grants and transferring the responsibility to local authorities. Of course, we have seen this doesn't really work where it's been tried.
1. Though the government returns responsibility for programs to the state it rarely returns enough money to the states to actually administer them.
2. The claim that giving the money to hundreds of local entities will be more efficient and cost effective just hasn't worked out that well. All you have to do is look at this year's hurricane relief program to see this on display. Ignore Puerto Rico, where we are told the island is still cocked up months after the hurricane because it is an island and that makes it hard. Look at Texas. There have been a number of extended news stories lately on the continuing problems there. The numbers are staggering. The corruption even more so.
Last night, I saw one showing a small town completely decimated by the storms. Before the storm, there were 1300 hundred businesses in the town. Now, months later, there are only 300 back operating there with the resultant loss in tax dollars. Add to this that the town has received $0 dollars in relief funds from any govern agency. All the aid they have received has come from private donations and from charities.
Just down the road, they interviewed a couple, two people, who were given a house worth $200,000 by the government. It's insane.
They showed a boat (looked like about an 18 footer) that had washed up on the land next to a highway. Prior to the hurricane it was estimated it would have cost about $3500 to have the boat hauled away and disposed of. Now, they are paying $20,000 for the same job.
FEMA Director, Brock Long, who was widely praised in the early days of the hurricane response was asked how some of this stuff could happen under his watch. His excuse? All the money is given in block grants to the locals. After that we have control over it.
We can likely count on the GOP coming up with similar ways to pay for their tax cuts.
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The human race is never going to live up to your standards Quirk.
ReplyDeleteI am turning to a book my Niece just sent me.....The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho....story of The Quest I can see that much already.
Give up the bitching Quirk....go Questing !
You too might write a book......Quirk Quests .... perhaps you will be a bestseller!!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteNow now you are showing your inner personality again, crapper
DeleteAnd you have been asked not to do so.
No one wants to hear of it or has the slightest interest in your inner problems.
There is something really wrong with you, rat.
DeleteLeave it now.
I'm not putting up with that shit.
Delete.
DeleteThe human race is never going to live up to your standards Quirk.
Even if that were true, it's no reason for you to come here daily trying to rationalize, excuse, and justify all the bullshit that is going on. You are an enabler.
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The Draft Dodger supported the pedophile in Alabama.
DeleteTold us it was part of the cukture, HIS culture.
And today he bribgs up his sweet niece
Delete away.
It will not stop me from speaking truth to perversion.
Don't look now Quirk but black unemployment is nearing an all time LOW !
ReplyDeleteSee Hot Air
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DeleteMoron,
Unemployment has been steadily dropping since the end of the recession in 2010, 8 years ago.
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In a year The Donald has done more for blacks than 8 years of Obozo .
ReplyDelete.
DeleteAnother urban myth now promoted by a country bumpkin.
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All these companies are lining up announcing new investment and laying out $1000 bonuses to employees.
ReplyDeleteThe democrats with 0 % support for the tax bill are going to need a "What Happed 2.0" tour after the next election.
It couldn't happen to a better bunch of assholes.
It is possible that there will be an economic miracle, but I am no fan of dependibg upon Divine Intervention.
DeleteMore retail stores failed in 2016 than in any year since 2008.
Mr Trump not matching Obama's job creation numbers, month to month, 2016 compared to 2017.
The billion in tax savings to the Family Trump ... An Energizer battery
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DeleteAnd don't come back with stories about bonuses from the car makers and other unionized (something anathema to the GOP) companies and others that have profit sharing bonuses tied to profits. Those are laid out in the provisions of the union contracts and have been around for decades.
Or from financial institutions. Hell, those guys were still handing out bonuses in 2008 to the people who helped crash the economy.
As for lining up to hand out money, I must have missed that.
The bottom line will be growth and jobs and not status quo levels of growth and jobs but increased levels of growth and jobs, increases big enough to offset the $ trillions of additional debt we will be incurring.
Plus what the little guy will be looking at are the net effects.
Wage growth.
offset by...
Tax increases (depending on your income, where you live, and how many kids you have)
The loss of major programs like CHIPS
The possibility that you are one of the millions who will lose insurance coverage due to Obamacare cuts
The fact that health insurance rates for most people are projected to go up because of elimination of the O'care mandate.
Whatever other program cuts the GOP comes up with to pay for the massive debt we will be incurring to pay for their 'Christmas Bonus' to the 1%, a gift that keeps on giving.
Etc.
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For Mr. Trump, however, lower taxes and higher tariffs serve the same purpose: fortifying the United States economy in what he sees as a zero-sum competition among nations.
ReplyDeleteHe has said since the start of his presidential campaign that his proposals would revive America’s fortunes and turn around a country he sees falling behind as a result of wrongheaded economic policies that have put United States companies at a disadvantage.
In recent weeks, he has predicted that his tax cuts will provide rocket fuel for the economy and that economic growth could reach 6 percent a year — three times the average pace since the 2008 financial crisis.
Mainstream economic forecasters regard such forecasts as fanciful. With the passage of the tax plan, Mr. Trump has won the chance to find out.