Tag: GOP congress

Pelosi Battling Trump And McConnell Over Pandemic Relief Legislation

Top Republican leaders — from Donald Trump to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — are dismissing a bill from congressional Democrats that would provide economic security to workers most impacted by the fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak, saying they don’t want to rush a response.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a bill this week that would give workers 14 days of paid sick leave (the number of days someone with COVID-19 or those suspected to have it must remain in quarantine), as well as provide food security to low-income families that rely on food stamps or free school lunch. It would also make testing for the virus free.

But Trump and McConnell are dismissing the bill, with Trump saying it’s full of “goodies” and McConnell saying offering free testing and economic security for vulnerable communities is “not related to the pressing issues at hand.” Continue reading.

Washington’s recession-fighting toolbox is nearly empty as US economy braces for possible coronavirus outbreak

Investors, policymakers, businesses and the general public are increasingly concerned the coronavirus’ rapid spread will lead to a recession. While this outcome is hard for economists like me to predict, we do know one thing: The U.S. is not prepared to fight a deep recession.

Policymakers basically have two methods for reversing a downturn: monetary stimulus, primarily through reduced borrowing costs; and fiscal stimulus, when the government spends more or cuts taxes.

Unfortunately, the U.S. currently has dim prospects for success with either option. Continue reading.

Republicans push FISA overhaul to CPAC faithful

Collins says he will be against ‘easy extensions’ without an overhaul

FORT WASHINGTON, MD — Conservative lawmakers pledged to their base Thursday morning that they would seek to avoid another clean extension of expiring government surveillance powers.

Rep. Doug Collins, the outgoing ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, was on the stage for a previously scheduled appearance at the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference. He spoke just a day after Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York abruptly postponed a committee markup of draft legislation to reauthorize and update key surveillance authorities that are scheduled to sunset March 15.

Collins and like-minded Republicans argue that a broader overhaul of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act powers is needed, including the operation of the secretive FISA Court to prevent a recurrence of the issues that arose in surveillance of Carter Page, a former adviser to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Continue reading.

Republican response to potential pandemic aims at protecting Trump with cowardice, hypocrisy and outright lies

AlterNet logoThe last time a deadly virus spread quickly across continents, Republicans in Congress ramped up xenophobic rhetoric to fear-monger ahead of the 2014 midterm elections. Echoing Donald Trump, who at the time hosted a weekly “Fox & Friends,” Republicans called for a travel ban and spread misinformation. “[President] Obama should apologize to the American people & resign!” Trump tweeted in October of 2014. Public polls right before the midterm elections showed that nearly 80% of Republicans thought the U.S. government should quarantine people who had recently been in a West African country with a major Ebola outbreak and nearly 50% worried they would be exposed to the Ebola virus. It was a catastrophic election for Democrats, with Republicans winning nine Senate seats and 13 House seats.

Six years later, President Trump continues to overhype the threat of the Ebola virus — this time in an effort to obscure his bungled response to a global health pandemic under his watch. Republicans in Congress are again spreading misinformation — this time in an overt attempt to defend Trump from criticism over his incompetent response.

As both Trump and his White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow appeared before cameras on Tuesday to claim that the coronavirus — and COVID-19, the disease it causes — are “well under control” and “contained,” the Dow Jones Industrial tumbled 1,000 points. On Wednesday, it fell almost another 900 points. Trump insisted on Twitter, “Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” Continue reading.

Lawmakers blast, defend Pentagon’s shift of cash to border wall

Senior Armed Services Republican raises constitutional concerns about Pentagon moving money unilaterally

Top members of the House Armed Services Committee assailed Pentagon leaders Wednesday, warning that the administration’s reprogramming of $3.8 billion of Defense Department money for a border wall could damage its relationship with Congress.

Echoing a letter they sent to Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper on Tuesday, Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said the reprogramming request could lead to Congress stripping the Pentagon of its ability to move funds around.

“This basically says that Congress doesn’t spend the money, the president does,” said Smith, the panel’s chairman, calling the shift of funds to pay for a southern border wall “very, very damaging” to the Pentagon. “The message it sends is that the Pentagon’s got plenty of money.” Continue reading

Republicans ready to look past Trump’s brash intervention in Roger Stone case

Washington Post logoCongressional Republicans showed little sign Wednesday that they would move to check President Trump’s brash public intervention in the federal prosecution of a former campaign confidant, leaving Democrats largely alone to fume about the evaporation of another norm of American governance.

Trump this week publicly decried a Justice Department sentencing recommendation for political operative Roger Stone, then congratulated Attorney General William P. Barr in an early-morning tweet Wednesday for “taking charge” and overruling it — creating at least the appearance that the long-standing taboo against overt political influence on prosecutorial matters had been obliterated.

But what ensued on Capitol Hill on Wednesday appeared to be less of a break-the-glass moment of crisis and more of a recurring episode in a three-year-old soap opera: While Democrats were aghast, members of the president’s party either expressed mild dismay or excused Trump’s tampering entirely. Continue reading.

GOP Legislators Complain About Drug Prices But Voted Against Reducing Cost

At least two dozen House Republicans have called on Congress to address the rising costs of prescription drugs after voting against legislation to rein in the rising costs of prescription drugs.

The most recent to do so was Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), who went on Fox Business Monday morning demanding the House address the issue — which was addressed in December.

“The American people want to see us put a budget together. They want to see drug pricing taken care of,” he added. Continue reading.

Expert: US corporate tax receipts lower than all but Latvia

Ways and Means heard from a Harvard professor on how corporate tax revenues dropped after the 2017 tax overhaul

After GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration slashed the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent two years ago, corporate tax revenue as a share of gross domestic product is lower in the United States than any of 30 developed countries — with the exception of Latvia.

That’s the conclusion of Jason Furman, a Harvard University economics professor who testified before the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday. “Corporate revenue collections are very low” both historically and compared to other advanced economies, said Furman, who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama.

While there are estimates that corporate tax collections will grow slightly as a percentage of GDP in coming years, that likelihood will evaporate if business provisions in the 2017 tax law are made permanent, Furman added, chiefly those allowing more generous equipment expensing. Continue reading.

‘The guardrails are gone’: Democrats brace for emboldened Trump at State of the Union

Washington Post logoDemocrats are bracing for a more emboldened President Trump now that his acquittal is at hand, beginning with Tuesday’s State of the Union address before a nationally televised audience.

Rather than seeking to unify Congress and the nation with remorse, Democrats expect Trump to ratchet up his rhetoric of grievance on the eve of Senate impeachment votes that are all but certain to acquit him for abuse of power and obstructing Congress.

“Whatever happens he claims that it’s a victory for him, in many instances when it’s far from it. So that’s what he’ll say,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a 2020 presidential contender, said during a break in Monday’s closing arguments by the prosecutors and the president’s defense team. Continue reading.

U.S. would plant billions of trees annually under GOP bill

Finally, there’s one climate initiative that the Trump administration is willing to get on board with. Republicans are working on a bill that would commit the U.S. to planting billions of trees annually. On the surface, it looks like a great move, but experts are weighing in with their concerns.

Tree-planting campaigns aren’t unique to President Trump. The topic came up last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as world leaders sought ways to combat climate change. There, Trump committed the U.S. to joining the One Trillion Tree initiative, which seeks to combat deforestation while committing to protect and restore forest cover by planting trees.

“We’re committed to conserving the majesty of God’s creation and the natural beauty of our world,” Trump said. He went on to add that the U.S. “will continue to show strong leadership in restoring, growing, and better managing our trees and forests.” Continue reading.