U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) (left) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.). (Yuri Gripas)
Uh-oh. “Confusion and chaos ahead as new tax rules take immediate effect.”
Oops. “Like Democrats in 2010, Republicans now insist voters will warm to the tax plan as it’s implemented. But Seth Masket, a University of Denver political scientist who studied the ACA’s electoral impact, told me the law didn’t gain significantly more public support until this year, when Trump tried to repeal it. Masket is dubious the tax bill will look much better by next November’s elections.”
Yikes. “Republican lawmakers also were celebrating a major legislative win at the precise moment when the rest of the legislative docket remains stagnant. Shortly before they gathered with Trump to applaud the slashing of taxes, news broke that they’d failed to advance a bill that would re-authorize a program providing healthcare to 9 million children.”
Ouch. “While the White House has succeeded in installing a series of judges on the federal bench, it faces scrutiny after the withdrawal of a third judicial nominee within several days.”
Oh, boy. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.): “I think it’s frankly cheap shots when some of these Republican colleagues would question Mueller’s integrity. And if you were to see a firing, I think you would see a constitutional crisis.”
Wow. You mean someone has to pay for it? “Maybe the next steps are smaller ideas, such as expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit or targeted tax breaks for left-behind communities. But if you are looking for radical tax reform, it may be more about taxes going up rather than down.”
Sigh. “The gamble Republicans are taking is that the voters who put Trump into the White House will fail to notice that they are not among the beneficiaries of the first major piece of legislation to bear his signature. Trump is not draining the swamp. He is watering it.”