Too Many Alabamans Think Doug Jones Is Unqualified

Steve M. makes an interesting point . After poking around a bit in the internals of the latest poll of the December 12th special election in Alabama, Steve notices that while 46 percent of respondents say that Republican Roy Moore is unqualified to serve in the Senate, forty percent of those surveyed say the same thing about Democrat Doug Jones.

A top senator just introduced a slew of new names into the Senate’s Russia probe

The Senate Judiciary Committee's top Democrat sent letters to several members of President Donald Trump's campaign team on Wednesday. Those entities had not previously been known to be of interest to the Judiciary Committee, which is also investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to undermine Hillary Clinton's candidacy.

Marco Rubio wants to make a huge change to the GOP tax bill – and Trump won’t like it

The amendment would make the child tax credit more generous, but it would also cut the corporate tax rate to only 22% instead of the 20% proposed in the current tax bill. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Mike Lee on Wednesday announced an amendment to the GOP tax plan that would increase the tax breaks for families with children at the expense of corporations.

Top enlisted leaders deny lawmakers’ claim that the military is in a readiness crisis

The military's top enlisted leaders on Monday denied the services are in readiness crisis despite warnings from members of Congress and a string of deadly, high-profile aviation and naval mishaps this year. "From my perspective, from a joint perspective, I don't think we're in crisis right now," said Army Command Sgt.

The GOP’s Deficit Trigger is a Self-Deceiving Budget Gimmick

Securing the votes to pass a tax bill has always presented a dilemma for Republicans: On the one hand, they want to advertise the plan as a broad tax cut, and appeal to legislators who simply want to cut taxes and not worry about the budgetary effects. On the other hand, they want to avoid the appearance of raising the deficit too much in order to appease the party's deficit hawks.

Steve Daines will vote ‘yes’ on tax bill’s first procedural vote

Daines previously had held out because, he said, the bill did not do enough to provide tax cuts to non-corporate businesses relative to big C corporations, which the bill would give a 20 percent tax rate. Montana's Steve Daines, one of only two announced "no" votes on the Senate Republican tax bill, said he would support the motion to proceed to the legislation, and said his criticisms about the bill's small business provisions had been addressed.

San Francisco residents win street back; foes cite ‘political connections’

Residents of a mansion-lined San Francisco cul-de-sac have reclaimed their street after city supervisors rescinded the sale at an auction ordered because the homeowners association failed to pay an annual property tax bill of about $14. The Board of Supervisors voted 7-4 at a hearing Tuesday night to cancel the $90,000 sale of the sidewalk, street, common areas and about 100 parking spaces.

Trump retweets videos purporting to show violence by Muslims

President Donald Trump retweeted a string of inflammatory videos Wednesday that purported to show violence being committed by Muslims, drawing quick condemnation from civil rights groups who said the president was fanning anti-Muslim sentiment just as he did during his presidential campaign. Trump retweeted videos from Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of the far-right organization Britain First , a fringe British group whose profile was elevated by Trump 's attention.

‘They Don’t Want Folks to Know What’s in It’: GOP Tries to Ram Through Tax Plan

With 2018 just around the corner, President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress are desperate to deliver their first major legislative victory to their base and donors: an overhaul of the U.S. tax code that they're pushing through the Senate this week. While the party's top brass is trying to portray a unified front, huge hurdles remain to getting many rank-and-file Republicans on board with the proposal that seems to be changing hourly.

UPDATE 1-Health secretary nominee Azar says drug pricing a top priority

Alex Azar, a former drug industry executive who Republicans have nominated to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on Wednesday promised to lower drug prices that he said are too high, saying he would look at abuse of patent laws that delays generic competition. Azar, who worked at Eli Lilly & Co, said his top priorities would be drug pricing, affordable healthcare, Medicare innovation and the opioid crisis that has killed tens of thousands of Americans.

The Latest: Yellen enjoys warm reception as tenure nears end

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who has endured numerous contentious hearings before Congress, is enjoying a warmer atmosphere in what's likely her final testimony as Fed leader. Lawmakers from both parties are taking turns offering praise, congratulations and gratitude for her stewardship of the Fed for the past four years.

Republicans had a big idea to give tax relief to the poor. Then it disappeared.

Ivanka Trump walks with Sen. Marco Rubio after a meeting with other senators on Capitol Hill in June. The Senate Republicans' tax bill would leave millions of poor families with only partial access to a tax credit that conservatives have touted as a critical policy tool for alleviating poverty.