Update 679 — The GOP’s Fiscal Ransom Note:“Big Spending Cuts or Else… We Will Default” The joke among Democrats in Washington on House GOP plans for the debt limit: The GOP is willing to hold the American economy hostage, threatening, or indifferent to, default. It just hasn’t finished agreeing on a ransom note. The ransom …
Update 660 — Rules of Engagement:Starve the Beast, with an Orwell Nod On Monday, the House of Representatives adopted the GOP Rules for the 118th Congress. Newly-minted Speaker McCarthy had to make many concessions with the most extreme MAGA members in his conference in exchange for their votes, including creating new oversight committees and spending …
Update 659 — The Putative 118th Congress:What’s Ahead for Economic Policy Legislation The House GOP conference has had several thousand dollars of pizza delivered this week to sustain it through failed ballot after ballot to elect a Speaker. This spectacular display of chaotic dysfunction comes two years after the insurrection on the Capitol, a more …
Update 658 — 117th Congress Wraps:$1.7 T Budget Deal Caps Prolific Year Congress heard last night from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who reminded democracies around the world that we are all In this — defense of self-government against state terrorism — together. Congress concurred and will provide $45 billion in assistance to Ukraine to repel …
Update 654 — Tax Talk of the Town:Fate of CTC and R&E Rest on FY23 Good news from Georgia — Senator Raphael Warnock has won re-election, giving Democrats 51 seats and a governing majority in the Senate (which we cover Friday). Members of Congress, staff and advocates are working feverishly to hash out a compromise …
Update 651 — Trifecta’s Final Frame:What Can Still Make it in Lame Duck? Congress returns from Thanksgiving break next Monday for a month-long lame duck session — all that remains of the 117th Congress until Christmas Eve, when you can expect adjournment — and the last shot for Democrats to make use of their fleeting …
Update 638 — Congress OKs FY23 CRFinal Budget Can Kicked to December Yesterday, the Senate passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through mid-December, by a vote of 72-25. And just earlier this afternoon, the House passed the measure, but with much less bipartisan support, 230-201. With this must-pass item completed, Congress stands adjourned …
Update 631 — Overhaul Talks Over for Now,What’s Next on Democrats’ Tax Agenda? When Congress passed and President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, numerous tax provisions were included — increased funding for the IRS, a 15 percent corporate minimum tax, a 1 percent excise tax on stock buybacks — but they did …
Update 626 — Democratic Reconciliation:IRA Secures 50 Votes, en Route to Passage Facing an August recess deadline, Democrats in Congress are on the verge of fulfilling their economic policy promise, bringing a hitherto elusive unity to a reconciliation bill and a Senate floor vote as soon as procedurally possible. The leap forward shows lessons learned: …
Update 621 — COMPETES to Pass Sans HitchHit an Obstruction Named Mitch; Now What? Two weeks ago — amid extensive conference committee deliberations — Sen. Mitch McConnell announced his intention to block bipartisan negotiations on a USICA/COMPETES bill, industrial policy legislation aimed to compete with China, if Senate Democrats continued to pursue a “partisan reconciliation …
