US special envoy backs unconditional talks with N. Korea

Democrats want to know why Justice Department released FBI texts - Democrats pressed the Justice Department on Thursday to explain why it released salacious, anti-Donald Trump text messages exchanged between two FBI employees who are still under investigation for their work on the Russia special counsel investigation. Poll: 54 percent say Mueller has conflict of interest - A majority of polled voters say special counsel Robert Mueller has a conflict of interest because of his past ties to former FBI Director James Comey, according to the latest Harvard CAPS-Harris survey.

The aftermath of Alabama

Quin Hillyer, a conservative columnist who once had a stint at the D-G, offers a tough post mortem in the New York Times: Donald Trump and Steve Bannon are politically impotent. The president and his former grand strategist threw considerable weight behind Roy Moore, the polarizing Republican Senate candidate in Alabama.

12/13/2017

Brian Beutler reminds us of how the Democrats and Republicans behaved when Scott Brown won his Senate seat in the midst of a historic debate about health care just 8 years ago: Republican leaders are on the brink of losing more than just the Alabama Senate seat. They are, among other things, also poised to break the promises they made to Sen. Susan Collins to secure her vote for the corporate tax cut bill.

Tax package would lower top tax rate for wealthy Americans

Congressional Republicans on Tuesday rushed toward a deal on a massive tax package that would reduce the top tax rate for wealthy Americans to 37 percent and slash the corporate rate to a level slightly higher than what businesses and conservatives wanted. In a flurry of last-minute changes that could profoundly affect the pocketbooks of millions of Americans, House and Senate negotiators agreed to expand a deduction for state and local taxes to allow individuals to deduct income taxes as well as property taxes.

Military must accept transgender recruits by Jan. 1, says federal judge appointed by Clinton

Police are looking for a man they say walked into Goffstown police headquarters Sunday afternoon, left behind a bottle of liquid and a note suggesting the contents could be hazardous, then left... There is the fiery element to Tom Brady's game that can be a positive, but when another player gets under his skin, the Patriots quarterback knows ... (more)

Doubts Rise About Sen. Collins’ Strategy To Shore Up Insurance Market

Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican whose vote was pivotal in pushing the GOP tax bill forward last week, thought she had a deal to bolster health care protections in exchange for her support. But it's now unclear wether her strategy to shore up part of the Affordable Care Act will prevail or that it would produce the results she anticipates.

Collins says Trump transition team wrong to reach out to Russia over sanctions

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, makes her way through a crush of reporters after Republican senators met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, on the GOP effort to overhaul the tax code, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 1, 2017. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said on Sunday that it was wrong for the Trump transition team to reach out to Russia over Obama-era sanctions imposed in response to its interference in the U.S. presidential election but that this doesn't prove collusion.

Republicans confident on clearing remaining tax plan hurdles

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 Passage of the Senate Republican Tax Bill Was a Travesty

Approved in the dead of night, when virtually nobody was watching, the biggest change in U.S. tax law in decades included last-minute revisions that skewed the bill even more toward the rich. historians write about the broader atrophy of the American system of governance, the passage of the 2017 tax-reform bill will be an illuminating event to dwell upon.

Tax bill’s ripple effects could be enormous for health-care system

The Republican tax overhaul that squeaked through the Senate early Saturday morning would reach deep into the nation's health-care system, with a clear dagger to a core aspect of the Affordable Care Act and broader ripple effects that could threaten other programs over time. The measure would abolish the government's enforcement of the ACA requirement that most Americans carry insurance coverage.

Senate passes tax-cut bill in milestone move toward overhaul

Senate Republicans narrowly approved the most sweeping rewrite of the U.S. tax code in three decades, slashing the corporate tax rate and providing temporary tax-rate cuts for most Americans. The 51-49 vote -- achieved only after closed-door deal-making with dissident senators -- brings the GOP close to delivering a much-needed policy win for their party and President Donald Trump.

Cornyn, McConnell on tax reform: We’ve got this

Really? It didn't look that way yesterday evening when three of their Republican colleagues nearly derailed the tax reform bill on a procedural vote. After intense negotiations this morning and a little horse-trading, though, John Cornyn told reporters that GOP leadership have 50 votes whipped for the bill's final vote, expected later today or early tomorrow: Pressed if that means GOP leadership has the 50 votes needed to let Vice President Pence break a tie, he added "yes."

Senate GOP presses ahead on tax bill; McCain backs measure

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., arrives for votes on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday evening, Nov. 27, 2017. President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans are scrambling to change a Republican tax bill in an effort to win over holdout GOP senators and pass a tax package by the end of the year.

Trump seeks big win as GOP tax measure gains steam

Starved of a significant legislative win for 10 long months since President Donald Trump took office, GOP senators are within touching distance of passing the most sweeping reform of the tax code for 30 years. A final vote on passing the bill, a version of which has already trekked through the House, is expected late on Thursday or Friday -- if the fragile Republican coalition can hold together despite last-minute anxiety over the final shape of the legislation and its long-term political and economic implications.

‘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.