The Bucks Stop Here

Tax Bill:  The gang that can’t shoot straight finally passed, or almost passed, their tax legislation yesterday. After the House voted, but before the plan went to the floor of the Senate, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that a few provisions in the bill violated Senate budget rules so the bill had to be amended and will now have to go back up for an additional House vote this morning.  Specifically, she nixed the Senator Ted Cruz provision that would have allowed 529 college plans to be used for home schooling and the Majority Leader McConnell  provision that would have exempted a small Christian college in of all places his home state of Kentucky from a new tax on college endowments. For some reason that escapes me she also ruled that the name of the bill had to be changed. Even without any Democratic votes the bill passed easily.  Only twelve House Republicans voted against the bill, all but one of them from either New York or California. Even though they voted no, protesting the elimination of the state and local tax deduction, many of their seats are probably now in jeopardy. All Republican senators including the one-time “savior of Obamacare” Susan Collins and the “only when it’s convenient” Trump critic Jeff Flake voted yes except for the ailing John McCain, who was absent, recuperating in Arizona. For her part, Senator Collins pushed back at the huge amount of criticism that she received as a result of her decision to support the tax bill, calling her critics out as “unbelievably sexist” because somehow she missed that they were focused on her flawed, illogical decision process rather than her charming smile or feminine wiles. Trump, who has already tweeted out congratulations to his Republican coconspirators, is positively gleeful at having achieved the key objective that drove his aspiration to become president in the first place.  While Ivanka, Don Jr, and Eric, his chief heirs, calculate the impact of the newly passed tax scam on their inheritance, later today he plans to hold a victory press conference where he will probably continue lying about the impact of the legislation on his personal tax liability.   Republicans are basking in their success, but their celebration may be short lived.  The plan is widely disliked by the public who for some reason find its preferred treatment of corporations and the wealthy a bit perplexing and by perplexing I mean infuriating.  Democrats plan to spend the run up to the 2018 mid-terms feeding that discontent and reminding the electorate that their Medicare, Medicaid and social security payments are next on the chopping block.  Their success with that approach is already bearing fruit in Virginia.  Yesterday a recount in the remaining disputed district from the recent Virginia election was completed, one more seat has been awarded to a Democratic candidate who won by one vote.  As a result, the Virginia House of delegates is no longer controlled by Republicans, making newly elected Democratic Governor Northam’s plans just a little bit easier to implement.  

Keeping the Lights On:  With all the focus on the tax bill it’s been easy to forget that come Friday night the government faces a shutdown if the assorted clowns running Congress can’t get their act together to pass a funding resolution.  House Speaker Paul Ryan was trying to go with a plan that would fund the military through September 30, the end of the fiscal year, while only funding the rest of the government until January 19.  However, that strategy fell apart when he couldn’t garner enough support from his own coalition so now he is seeking to fund both the military and the rest of the government again only through January 19.  An $81 billion bill for hurricane relief is facing pushback from fiscally conservative Republicans, chiefly those from states that were unaffected by the storms, so it will now be separated out and voted on as a standalone bill.  It remains unclear whether funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Plan will be voted on before year end even though some states have already run out of money and are now turning away needy kids.  Despite Majority Leader McConnell’s promise to the delusional Senator Susan Collins, passage of the Alexander-Murray Obamacare “fix” bill that would provide funding for insurance subsidy payments is also in jeopardy because some of Ryan’s unruly Republicans object to anything that fixes Obamacare and others are trying to tack on more restrictive provisions on plans that provide abortion services. Passing DACA legislation seems to be off the table until after the new year leaving the dreamer kids with little to celebrate when the ball drops. It remains unclear whether Democrats will deliver the votes needed to pass a funding resolution that doesn’t include all the things they want.  To the extent there is a shutdown, expect lots of finger pointing.  Even though the Republicans control the House, Senate and Presidency they will blame the Democrats.  Democrats will counter by pointing out that those who control everything should be able to keep the government running.    

Human Resources:  Yesterday the Republican led Senate Banking Committee rejected former Congressman Scott Garett, Trump’s nominee to serve as head of the Export Import Bank.  Garett, a good friend of VP Pence, was also one of the Ex-Im Bank’s biggest critics and had repeatedly called for the bank to be disbanded while he was in Congress which by Trumpian standards made him perfect for the job.  Unconvinced that Garett would seek to fulfill the Ex-Im mission of helping US corporations compete internationally, two Republican Senators, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Tim Scott of South Carolina, torpedoed his career prospects by joining their Democratic colleagues and voting against sending his nomination to the Senate floor.  EPA Commissioner Scott Pruitt continues to face criticism and not just for his failure to protect the environment.  The Inspector General is going after him for spending $25,000 to build a “cone of silence” in his office.  Now he is coming under criticism for hiring Definers Public Affairs, a firm linked to a Republican opposition research company, to root out dissenters within the EPA ranks, by dissenters think professionals who actually think that the EPA should protect the environment.  That $120,000 no-bid contract was just cancelled as a result of a media backlash because apparently getting caught spying on your employees thoughts is still a bad thing.  

The Battle for Choice:  The legal fight over whether two pregnant, undocumented teens in US custody can get abortions is over, though a broader challenge to the Trump administration's efforts to block abortions for teenage detainees will continue. Facing the more immediate deadline, the teen who was over twenty weeks pregnant was given permission to proceed with her plans, whatever they may be, on Tuesday. The other teen was transferred to ICE and released on her own recognizance when it was determined that she was not a minor. Ironically, she still insists that she is only seventeen but since Immigration now believes that she is nineteen she too can proceed with her own plans. The fight for choice continues but at least for now, these young women get to make their own decisions.