Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Top Republicans on a key Senate panel have reached a tentative agreement on a tax plan that would add about $1.5 trillion to the government's $20 trillion debt over 10 years, according to congressional officials. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, a member of the chamber's dwindling band of deficit hawks, said on Tuesday that Republicans have "potentially gotten to a very good place" on agreeing to how much the upcoming tax measure might cost, once the Senate's tax writers have blended together rate cuts, additional revenue raised through curbing tax breaks, and the beneficial effects of what he called "pro-growth tax reform."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his leadership team are seriously considering voting on a bill that would scale back the federal government's role in the health care system and instead provide block grants to states, congressional and Trump administration sources said. It would be a last-ditch attempt to repeal Obamacare before the GOP's power to pass health care legislation through a party-line vote in the Senate expires on Sept.
Politico : "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his leadership team are seriously considering voting on a bill that would scale back the federal government's role in the health care system and instead provide block grants to states. It would be a last-ditch attempt to repeal Obamacare before the GOP's power to pass health care legislation through a party-line vote in the Senate expires on Sept.
"People in Kentucky took this stuff very seriously. Being a New Yorker, I don't have any interest in watching the eclipse," Steve Mnuchin said Thursday at a conference sponsored by Politico.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday the initial request for use of a government plane for his European trip last month was about national security and not his own personal convenience on his honeymoon. Mnuchin said as a member of the president's National Security Council he needed a secure communication link with Washington and his staff put in a request for use of an Air Force jet for his honeymoon trip with his wife Louis Linton to Scotland, France and Italy.
The Treasury Department said Thursday that a concern about secure communications is what prompted Secretary Steven Mnuchin to inquire about using a government plane for his European honeymoon in August. In a statement, the department said the request for a government plane was withdrawn because a "secure communications option was identified" without the use of a government plane.
After threatening to scuttle all amendments on a massive defense policy bill, Sen. Rand Paul is likely to secure a vote on ending the war authorizations the US military uses to fight terrorism across the globe. Paul's office announced he would get a vote Wednesday on the Kentucky Republican's amendment that would repeal the 2001 and 2002 war authorizations after six months, giving Congress time to pass a new Authorization for Use of Military Force for the wars against Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban.
President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan . House Speaker Paul D. Ryan promised Obamacare repeal, funding for the wall and tax reform, all by the end of August.
Republicans who dared to cut deals with Democrats have long had to fear retribution from conservative activists like Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government. He had railed against a 2015 debt-ceiling compromise as "absurd," and as recently as March called for President Donald Trump to use the vote to "create real reforms" to cut spending.
Republicans who dared to cut deals with Democrats have long had to fear retribution from conservative activists like Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government. He had railed against a 2015 debt-ceiling compromise as "absurd," and as recently as March called for President Donald Trump to use the vote to "create real reforms" to cut spending.
As Congress returned from summer recess to a plate heaped with work - President Donald Trump added a gooey serving of immigration reform Tuesday on top of the debt ceiling, the budget, hurricane relief and tax reform - another of America's key institutions is marking 10 years that shook the world.
President Trump's job approval rating in the RealClearPolitics average of polls is 39.9 percent. That's actually up a bit from Trump's low of 37.4 percent, reached on August 14. The RCP average, made up of results from the most recent surveys, is a national measure.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. accompanied by members of the House and Senate Democrats, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. accompanied by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y. speaks with DREAMERS who are holding a 4-day fast on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. accompanied by members of the House and Senate Democrats, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept.
The way President Donald Trump talked about the meeting with congressional leadership Wednesday, it would be easy to forget Republicans were even there. It's too early to tell whether Trump's willingness to strike a deal with Democrats to fund the government in the short-term was a sign of a new strategy to work across the aisle, or simply an impulsive decision from a president already frustrated with his own party.
Senate Republicans have almost doubled the size of the disaster relief package for Harvey to more than $15 billion, a first installment to help communities in Texas rebuild from the storm - and stock reserves for looming damage from Hurricane Irma. The must-do legislation, paired with a short-term increase in the government's borrowing authority and a temporary government funding bill, is on track to pass the Senate as early as Thursday.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is rejecting a Democratic idea to tie Harvey aid to a three-month increase in the debt limit. A day after they returned to work from their summer recess, congressional leaders met with President Trump at the White House Wednesday on issues from tax reform to hurricane Irma preparedness and disaster aid for Harvey affected areas.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Congressional leaders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, in Washington.
President Donald Trump pauses during a meeting with, from left, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Congressional leaders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, in Washington.