Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Congressional Republicans, buoyed by the Senate's approval of a landmark tax overhaul, expressed confidence Saturday that final legislation would be agreed upon quickly and sent to President Trump by the end of this month. While the tax bills approved by the House and the Senate diverge in significant ways, the same forces that rocketed the measures to passage appear likely to bond Republicans in the two chambers as they work to hash out the differences.
The US Senate has approved a major tax overhaul, bringing the Trump administration one step closer to its aim of slashing taxes for businesses and the wealthy, while delivering mixed changes for the rest of the country. In what would be the largest US tax overhaul since the 1980s, Republicans want to add $1.4 trillion over 10 years to the $20 trillion national debt to finance changes that they say would further boost an already growing economy.
Republicans crossed another major hurdle in their effort to get a tax bill to President Trump's desk by Christmas. In the early hours of Saturday morning, the Senate passed a sweeping tax overhaul bill in largely party-line vote.
On the go and no time to finish that story right now? Your News is the place for you to save content to read later from any device. Register with us and content you save will appear here so you can access them to read later.
Telling reporters we have the votes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber after a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers to advance the stalled GOP overhaul of the tax code, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Dec. 1, 2017. Telling reporters we have the votes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber after a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers to advance the stalled GOP overhaul of the tax code, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Dec. 1, 2017.
Republican senators say tax reform would benefit small businesses but their true goal is to help the biggest firms, a fact dramatically illustrated by a Republican-on-Republican policy fight this week. The legislation would reduce the top corporate tax rate, the one paid by the largest publicly-traded companies, from 35 to 20 percent.
By MARCY GORDON and STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans weighed scaling back the tax cuts in their massive package to secure crucial support as congressional analysts said Thursday the legislation would add $1 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade.
Earlier this week, the Senate Budget Committee voted to approve tax reform legislation, advancing Americans one step closer to benefiting from meaningful, growth-oriented tax cuts. And while the plan is far more complicated than it should be, it is critical for the Senate as a whole to pass the bill in order to help turbocharge our economy and allow American families to keep more of their own hard-earned money.
The Senate is currently debating the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and could pass the bill as soon as this week. In selling their tax bill, Republicans have focused on the bill's effects before the individual tax cuts expire at the end of 2025.
In light of the tax legislation coming out of Washington, Democratic Gov.-elect Phil Murphy is having tough going pushing his proposal for a so-called "millionaires' tax." Let me offer this advice: Just call it a "billionaires' tax."
U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan called the Republican-authored federal tax overhaul a "travesty," but her own proposal to lower taxes for middle-class families has gotten little traction. No Democrats or Republicans have signed onto legislation she filed in September to give a $500 tax credit to individuals making less than $100,000 a year.
The House easily approved a bipartisan measure Wednesday requiring lawmakers and aides to take annual anti-harassment training as lawmakers faced heavy pressure to address burgeoning sexual misconduct allegations against members of Congress. Passage, by voice vote, came as Congress battled over Republican tax cuts and a potential government shutdown, even as lawmakers were forced to address accusations against some of their own.
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.
John Marshall, America's fourth chief justice, proclaimed in an early case before the court, "[T]he power to tax involves the power to destroy." When the tax bill came to a vote, I was aware that taking away more hard-earned income from families living in the neighborhoods throughout our district would destroy their hopes and dreams - or at least cause them great hardship.
Even Bruce McGuire, founder of the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association, understands if wealthy Northeasterners flee the region due to changes in the tax code. The problem for the Connecticut hedge-fund set - and, more broadly, for a lot of the Wall Street crowd - is that Republican proposals in both the House and Senate would drive up taxes for many high-earners in the New York City area.
Rep. Bruce Poliquin is showing his true colors with his vote in favor of the House tax cut for the rich. Poliquin ran as a so-called deficit hawk for two elections but that was merely cover for voting against anything while Barack Obama was the president.
Don't like skipping work to take your child to the doctor? Republicans have done away with the Children's Health Insurance Program, which protected 9 million children whose families' insurance policies don't cover them because of a legal glitch. Never mind that the U.S. ranks 26th among developed nations on infant mortality.
Though their ham-fisted attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed in September, Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration won't give up on efforts that would take away health care from millions of people. They're now out to do it through the equally sloppy and cruel tax bills barreling through Congress.
Rhode Island Democratic Party Chair Joseph McNamara has joined national Democrats in warning about the impact of President Donald Trump's Tax Plan. "The Republican-controlled United States Congress is taking action on a tax reform package that will decimate our middle- and lower-class families while enriching wealthy corporations and the upper 1-percent of Americans.
If the GOP tax plan passes, will middle class taxpayers be giving thanks for it this time next year? Or will they have just voted out Republican control of Congress because the plan didn't deliver what was promised? Republicans believe that passage of their tax plan is required for them to keep control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections. But passage of a flawed tax plan could also cost them control of Congress.