Tax cuts offer Republicans a Trump-free campaign option

As Republican U.S. Senator Rob Portman spoke to small-business owners over the weekend in his home state of Ohio, he hammered on a major election-year theme for Republicans - that tax cuts are helping the little guy. What did not come up in his talk in Zanesville was the more complicated topic of Republican President Donald Trump, whose victory in Ohio in 2016 helped propel him to the White House.

Are female-led companies the answer to sexual misconduct?

In this Jan. 15, 2014, file photo, Maria Contreras-Sweet, founder and board chairman of a Latino-owned community bank in Los Angeles, listens as President Barack Obama announces he will nominate her to head of the Small Business Administration in Washington. A group of investors led by a Contreras-Sweet offered to acquire Weinstein Co., rebrand it and install a female-led board of directors.

FEMA contractor says she is a “scapegoat” in controversy over canceled contract

The woman at the heart of a controversy surrounding a cancelled $156 million contract to provide 30 million meals for victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico says she is being turned into a scapegoat for problems with how FEMA handles contracts with small businesses. House Democrats have asked for the Oversight Committee to subpoena FEMA officials to explain why the contract was issued to a small company called Tribute Contracting, LLC run by Atlanta-based business owner Tiffany Brown - the sole employee listed for that business.

Strong health sign-ups under Obamacare encourage Democrats

Republicans on the campaign trail this year will be eager to tout the potential benefits of their tax cut plan. Failed efforts by congressional Republicans last year to repeal former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act exposed not only deep divisions within the party but also revealed core benefits of the law that millions of Americans now take for granted.

Murphy Sworn In as New Jersey Governor

Philip Dunton Murphy was sworn in as New Jersey's 56th governor, vowing to make good on economic promises unfulfilled by his Republican predecessor and counteract what he called catastrophic social and fiscal policy by the Trump administration. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. senior director, pledged to help foster a "stronger and fairer" New Jersey that creates higher-wage jobs, increases public-school funding, provides free access to community college, helps small businesses and ensures the wealthiest pay "their fair share" in taxes.

Trump administration rule would let more people drop Obamacare

Cathey Park of Cambridge, Massachusetts wears a cast for her broken wrist with "I Love Obamacare" written upon it prior to U.S. President Barack Obama's arrival to speak about health insurance at Faneuil Hall in Boston October 30, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque The Trump administration proposed a rule on Thursday to allow Americans who are self-employed or work for small businesses to buy health insurance that does not comply with all Obamacare requirements in an effort to unwind the 2010 healthcare law.

Early Positive Effects Of Tax Reform Law Counter Democrats’ Fearmongering

President Donald Trump signed the tax cuts bill into law just before Christmas, making the Christmas holiday weekend a little brighter and cheerier for the vast majority of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. The new law's positive effects have already begun.

Brownback sees rolled-back Kansas cuts still shaping debate

Outgoing Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback argues his experiment in aggressive tax-cutting pioneered a national debate over helping small business owners that has influenced Congress and other states, even though his home-state lawmakers rolled it back. In a year-end interview with The Associated Press, the conservative Republican governor predicted other states will look at lowering personal income taxes for small-business owners and pointed to provisions of a GOP federal tax overhaul as a sign that the idea has taken root.

Idaho businesses line up against non-compete law; ‘lie of the year'”…

More than 100 Idaho business leaders, ranging from high-tech CEOs to small-business owners to engineers, marketers and manufacturers, have signed a letter to Gov. Butch Otter and the Idaho Legislature calling for the repeal of a 2016 noncompete law that sharply limits the rights of employees who move to new firms. The law , which passed both houses by divided votes amid much controversy, took effect July 1, 2016.

Senate GOP got to ‘yes’ by raising tax on overseas earnings, boosting small business breaks

The change was a key last-minute revision to the bill meant to gain the votes of Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Steve Daines of Montana. Republicans will increase the size of the one-time tax on overseas corporate earnings to pay for bigger small business tax breaks in their tax bill, several senators said Friday.

Small Businesses Are An Afterthought In Senate Tax Fight

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.

Republicans Praise Presidenta s Tax Plan During Missouri Visit

Missouri congressional members are expressing their views after President Trump's address on tax cuts at the St. Charles Convention Center Wednesday. Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer says the plan passed by the House offers major tax cuts to two important groups - small businesses, and those making $200,000 or less.

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.

Rural relief or rich get richer? GOP seeks to slash the estate tax

In the century that Pat Snook's family has run a cattle operation in southeast Texas, she and her relatives have paid the federal estate tax three times to account for acreage, equipment and other assets being passed from one generation to the next. "You don't mind paying it one time," said Snook, who lives in Livingston, about an hour northeast of Houston.