Senate Republicans Are Scrambling to Rewrite Their Tax Bill After a Mini-Rebellion

[babylonsister]

Senate Republicans Are Scrambling to Rewrite Their Tax Bill After a Mini-Rebellion
GOP leaders are trying to slice $350 billion from the bill to appease deficit hawks.

Noah Lanard
Nov. 30, 2017 10:45 PM


Senate Republicans learned Thursday evening that they have a $350 billion problem. The news came as senators congregated on the chamber’s floor for a procedural vote, and lead to a tense intra-party showdown that left Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) visibly sullen. The revenue trigger Republicans had planned to include in their tax bill violates the chamber’s procedural rules and will have to be scrapped at the last minute—threatening support from a cohort of Republicans concerned about the massive hole the GOP’s tax cuts would blow into the national debt.

The verdict from Elizabeth MacDonough, the usually obscure Senate parliamentarian, came amidst what should have been a hopeless move by Democrats to send the tax bill off the Senate floor and back to the finance committee. Instead, the vote locked at 48 in favor of slowing down, and 49 against, as Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) refused to keep the bill moving forward.

Without a trigger to raise taxes if revenue falls short, Corker and Flake want assurances that the bill won’t pile up the national debt. On the Senate floor, Republican colleagues surrounded the pair to urge them to keep the bill moving forward. Hours earlier, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) had found that the tax bill would add $1 trillion in deficit spending over the next decade, even when analyzed by Republicans’ favored method of “dynamic scoring” that takes into account how the tax cuts might boost economic output. Corker could be heard saying the bill was a “trillion [dollars] off.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) broke through and appeared to lobby Corker to hold his ground. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) roamed at the edge of the chamber, appearing delighted by the disarray. Off to the side was Johnson. He’s pushing for an even larger tax cut for the type of business, known as a “pass-through,” that his family runs. McConnell showed little patience for his grandstanding. As they went back and forth, McConnell threw up his arms and sulked away.

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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/11/senate-republicans-are-scrambling-to-rewrite-their-tax-bill-after-a-mini-gop-rebellion/

[dalton99a]

1. They're just rewrapping their Christmas gift to the 1%

[Doodley]

2. They are frantically trying to rewrite it on the back of a cigarette packet.

[Johonny]

3. Unfortunately none of the re-writing is targeting the poor of middle class

It's just BS measures to make it look cheaper. The bill will pass and be a disaster for the country.