20/20 Vision

Wall Street, amid Record Gains, A Major Beneficiary under Trump Tax Code (Jan. 17)

Update 242 — Wall Street, amid Record Gains,  A Major Beneficiary under Trump Tax Code The nation’s largest banks are turning out record profits in the Dodd-Frank era.  The last several years have seen big banks make substantial gains; all indications are that 2018 will be no exception to this trend.   With passage of the …

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Coming Down the Legislative Track (Jan. 10)

Update 241 • Coming Down the Legislative Track: A Preemptive Strike at Infrastructure in the House  This past weekend, NEC chief Gary Cohn delivered a long-awaited outline of the administration’s plan to fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.  The long-overdue plan calls for up to $200 billion in tax expenditures to attract $1  trillion in private infrastructure investment. …

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2017 Spending Wraps Up (Dec. 22)

Update 239 — 2017 Spending Wraps Up; 2018 Opens with Shutdown Looming Yesterday, the House passed a stopgap measure that would fund the government through Jan. 19 The Senate approved the bill immediately afterward.  Just weeks ago, Congress found itself in the familiar position of scrambling to avoid a government shutdown.  It will be again in less …

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K Street's Inside Track on Tax (Dec. 21)

Update 238 — K Street’s Inside Track on Tax; Middle-Class Taxpayers Pay with Uncertainty  Yesterday, President Trump and Congressional Republicans celebrated passage of a sprawling tax package costing $1.5 trillion over ten years. And with Ways and Means Chair Brady’s technical corrections bill ready to go, lobbyists on K Street and elsewhere will return from …

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Finishing Touches on Tax (Dec. 19)

Update 237 — Finishing Touches on Tax; Bills Will Be Passed, onto the Next Generation Today, the House voted to adopt the final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act despite overwhelming public opposition. But it ran into a parliamentary hurdle in the Senate — three Byrd Rule violations amounting to a minor procedural …

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Government Shutdown Avoided (Dec. 8)

Update 233 —  Government Shutdown Avoided Til the Week Before Xmas, and all thru House This morning, the President signed H.J. 123, a stopgap measure to fund the government through December 22.  The House and Senate passed the measure yesterday to prevent a government shutdown that would otherwise have occurred today. With another budgetary band-aid, …

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