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Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

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It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Venality / One Last Smash and Grab

One Last Smash and Grab

by | 61 Comments

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They can’t help themselves:

House Republicans on Monday unveiled a tax package that would fix some technical errors in the tax law they passed last year, reform parts of the Internal Revenue Service, and provide tax relief for victims of the California wildfires and other natural disasters.

The legislation also would extend about 30 tax breaks that are regularly renewed but are at risk of expiring, and the bill aims to make it easier for small employers to provide retirement plans to their workers.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), chair of the Ways and Means Committee, released the nearly 300-page bill Monday night during Congress’s lame-duck session. The proposal would require Democratic votes in the Senate to be signed into law, and it faces an uncertain fate given a crunch of other issues facing Congress before it adjourns in December.

“The policy proposals in this package have support of Republicans and Democrats in both chambers,” Brady said in a statement. “I look forward to swift action in the House to send these measures to the Senate.”

They crafted it with no Democratic input, no one has read the bill, so I am sure it is just fixes. Right?

They can fix the Republican mistakes next spring when the adults are back in charge.

Reader Interactions

61Comments

  1. 1.

    gene108

    Though 300 pages, I have read the bill is sorely lacking in many details that would be necessary to have a true idea of the impact.

  2. 2.

    TenguPhule

    “The policy proposals in this package have support of Republicans and Democrats in both chambers,”

    Mind you, they don’t agree on which proposals in there deserve support.

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    @gene108:

    I have read the bill is sorely lacking in many details that would be necessary to have a true idea of the impact.

    I think its safe to assume it stinks and will cause great harm. Like everything else Republicans have been doing for the last 38 years or so.

  4. 4.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    Not sure how Brady squares this:

    “The policy proposals in this package have support of Republicans and Democrats in both chambers,” Brady said in a statement. “I look forward to swift action in the House to send these measures to the Senate.”

    with this:

    crafted it with no Democratic input

    The Senate Dems should tell the goopers to go pound sand.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    They can fix the Republican mistakes next spring when the adults are back in charge.

    The epitaph of the Democratic Party.

  6. 6.

    MattF

    “There was no communication from his staff, including a heads up that something was coming,” Wyden spokeswoman Rachel McCleery wrote on Twitter. “That is not how you negotiate.”

    ‘Negotiate’? Hmph. Is that a… a word? What does it mean?

  7. 7.

    gene108

    When the other side essentially learns about it for the first time in the press, which was last night, it is invariably messaging and gamesmanship,” Senator Ron Wyden, top Democrat on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, told reporters.

    SNIP

    Senator Mark Warner, another Senate Finance Committee Democrat, dismissed the legislation as “that imaginary bill”, telling reporters on Capitol Hill that he had seen no specifics.

    SNIP

    House and Senate Democrats said they were reviewing the legislation and acknowledged that parts of it, including provisions to allow retirement savings by seniors, could find bipartisan backing. But it was unclear whether congressional rules would allow lawmakers to cherry-pick the more popular measures

    SNIP

    House Democratic aide dismissed Brady’s claim that the measure was bipartisan, though some sections of it appeared to be based on previous bills with Democratic cosponsors.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1NW29N

    Looks like Republicans threw some shit against the wall hoping some of what they want would stick.

  9. 9.

    TS (the original)

    They crafted it with no Democratic input,

    Meanwhile the republican pundit – who I will not name – or link – at the WaPo has just suggested

    Trump is ready to deal. Are Democrats?

    They have different rules when the democrats are in charge

  12. 12.

    Thoughtful David

    According to FTFWaPo, Bart O’Kavanaugh is back to coaching girl’s basketball. Didn’t those parents listen?

  14. 14.

    TenguPhule

    @Thoughtful David:

    According to FTFWaPo, Bart O’Kavanaugh is back to coaching girl’s basketball. Didn’t those parents listen?

    Pimping out their teenage daughters in exchange for the criminalization of Abortion and bringing Bibles back into the classroom seems fair enough. //

  15. 15.

    TenguPhule

    Trump on Monday angrily rebuked General Motors for its planned layoffs, demanding the automaker reverse its decision and threatening to move against the company if it failed to.

    “Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra, for closing plants in Ohio, Michigan and Maryland. Nothing being closed in Mexico & China. The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get! We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies, including … for electric cars,” Trump wrote in a series of Twitter posts.

    “General Motors made a big China bet years ago when they built plants there (and in Mexico) – don’t think that bet is going to pay off. I am here to protect America’s Workers!” he wrote.

    Trump could not unilaterally cut off the federal government’s aid to the automobile company, as much of the government funding for the company is determined by acts of Congress.

    And there he goes again.

  18. 18.

    jonas

    I’m sure by “reform the IRS” they mean “hamstring the IRS”…to make high-end tax dodges easier to get away with.

  19. 19.

    TenguPhule

    @jonas:

    I’m sure by “reform the IRS” they mean “hamstring the IRS”…to make high-end tax dodges easier to get away with.

    They want to demand that the IRS come up with a “Customer Service Plan” to please people who don’t want to pay their taxes.

    No, I’m not making this up.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    Well, if Nancy “World’s Most Evilest Speaker-of-The-House-to-Be EVAH” Pelosi were serious, she would already be promising to give the Republicans whatever they want in the next session, because that’s how compromise and bipartisanship work, right?

    Or so I’ve been told be the progressives over at Fifth Column Third Way/Problem Causers Solvers.

  29. 29.

    ruemara

    @Thoughtful David: You talk as if the religious right think girls are real people.

    Tax cuts for fire victims. Insanity. They need real help, not a tax break. I can’t with these people

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Said Rethuglican pundit needs to be booked on the rocketship to the Sun.

    And if he complains that the rocket will burn up, tell him it’ll go there at night, after the Sun has set, so no problem.

  31. 31.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @MattF:

    Proud Boys/Alt Reichists/Trump worshippers and other assorted fascists:

    “Just you wait libs! God-Emperor Trump will have that nasty Barra shot and GM will open all of it’s plants back up in fear of the God-Emperor’s wrath, you’ll see!”

  35. 35.

    TenguPhule

    A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of breaking a law on unfair competition by using the presidency to attract customers to restaurants in his Washington hotel.

    U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington ruled today that the Cork Wine Bar may indeed be losing customers as lobbyists, political fundraisers and others flock to the nearby Trump International Hotel, but that does not constitute unfair competition under the local law. He wrote that to decide otherwise would mean other celebrities could not promote companies they own either.

    DAMN.

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    @MattF: Sounds like Boeing is in a world of trouble. Like they did not adequately inform airlines of emergency procedures, and how differently the new system responds. And now they’re dissembling and denying.

    What I have not heard (or looked for) is what other airlines’ experience with the 737MAX and its MCAS has been. Believe Norwegian also flies them?

    Albeit, a better airline than Lion would have taken that misperforming new jet out of service, and tested it before loading it up with passengers. Whole thing is such a tragedy.

  40. 40.

    catclub

    This past August, Trump unilaterally cancelled the planned 1.9% (effectively cost of living) pay raise for federal civilian employees ( but did not cancel it for military). I am still watching to see if some end of year bill restores that. I think it is possible, but not a heavy favorite.

  42. 42.

    catclub

    @Elizabelle: I was surprised this did not affect Boeing the day after it went down. It was a brand new plane.
    Unexplained crashes of those are not good.

  44. 44.

    catclub

    @debit: I was amused when NPR either said it ‘was a scene that included butter’
    or ‘a sex scene that included butter’ Not very helpful to those who do not know what the scene entailed ( pun intended!).

  46. 46.

    The Moar You Know

    Sounds like Boeing is in a world of trouble.

    @Elizabelle: And the FAA, and especially Lion Air (this airliner had the same problem on the previous four flights and no one took it out of service). But Boeing fucked up big time on this. The system handles the MCAS cutout differently and they didn’t see fit to tell anyone.

    My dad was a commercial pilot for most of his entire career (military in Vietnam of course). He’s still training pilots. A failure to inform pilots of a major control change like this is very, very, very rare, for which I’m glad, because something like this could have killed him.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    They can fix the Republican mistakes next spring when the adults are back in charge.

    They may end up with some kind of compromise.

    The extenders and some of the technical corrections need to be dealt with now. There is some crap in the original tax bill that was passed that really makes no sense, or which was so poorly crafted that it invites exploitation by crafty taxpayers and their tax lawyers.

    In the past, Democrats and Republicans would work on or at least come to some rough agreement on extenders and other loose ends. But the GOP can’t help themselves. They really believe that they are the only legitimate government and that “bipartisan” means going along with what the Republicans want.

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    @Tokyokie:

    Nobody’s discussed the death of Bertolucci?

    Or for that matter, Nic Roeg.

    Or Stephen Hillenburg, The Creator Of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” Passed away at age 57.

  52. 52.

    MattF

    @Elizabelle: It usually takes several simultaneous failures to produce a fatal crash. In this case, a bad sensor in an airline that doesn’t really ‘do’ maintenance, a manufacturer that changed a specific aircraft’s response to bad information, an inadequately documented change in the required response by the pilot. You have to unwind all this before assigning responsibility. But Boeing’s overengineering of the aircraft’s response looks to have played a role.

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    @MattF: Yeah. This one’s gonna have multiple causes, but neither LionAir nor Boeing come off looking well.

    Brand new plane in perfect weather, though. Come on, guys.

    ETA: And I don’t think they have found the cockpit voice recorder yet. That one’s going to be heartbreaking, when it comes up. Those pilots tried so hard. (And possibly through a veil of exhaustion. Have heard Lion works its pilots way too hard.)

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @The Moar You Know:

    But Boeing fucked up big time on this. The system handles the MCAS cutout differently and they didn’t see fit to tell anyone.

    They claim, at least, that they did tell people; the new procedure is in the manual for the new plane. Maybe they didn’t make a big enough deal out of it, but it is the pilots’ responsibility to know their plane. That said, I’m glad that air accident investigations are based on trying to figure out how to prevent future accidents rather than laying blame. There were obviously multiple failures at the root of this accident- the airline keeping the plane in service when it had repeated problems, Boeing not making a big enough deal out of changes from one model to the next, and pilots not knowing the correct procedure- and they all should be addressed as part of the response to the accident.

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    @Elizabelle:

    And possibly through a veil of exhaustion. Have heard Lion works its pilots way too hard.

    That’s another issue that needs to be taken up as part of the response to the accident. If pilot fatigue was a contributing factor in the crash, they need to look at work schedules.

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    I would not fly on upstart or budget airlines in Asia. Just not the margin of safety the classic carriers have. (Singapore, Cathay, Thai, etc.) But I suspect some places have no alternative. The budget jet, or the ferry and they have disasters of their own.

  59. 59.

    Percysowner

    Sometimes the good guys win against all odds. The first Democratic flip for the Ohio Senate had literally everything going against her. The party didn’t endorse her because there were well known skeletons in her closet (a hit and run when she was 16, a bankruptcy following a divorce, acknowledge PTSD after the death of her mother and brother in a car accident and she sold alcohol to a minor in her early twenties. She is also an immigrant from Laos. the Republican spent a Million Dollar Campaign against her. It looked like the Republican candidate had won on election night, but after they counted provisional and absentee ballots, she won and by more than the percentage to qualify for a recount, so unless the Repubs decide to pony up more money, she’s in. Congratulations Tina Maharath

  60. 60.

    Dan B

    @The Moar You Know: It will be interesting to see if any of the Lion Air crash story ends up in the Seattle Times.

    Boeing has a turbulent history here with some dramatic ups and downs.

    (sorry, sorta – long day of battling opaque bureaucracies and specialists in Catch 22)

  61. 61.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Villago Delenda Est: Tell him fame & fortune awaits him as the first man on the Sun – and to ensure his safety, he’ll be landing at night. Appeals to ego, greed, & a creationist-level (mis)understanding of science – what’s not to like? :D

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