Congress Archives - Page 2 of 3

January 22, 2023

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• The U.S. has a law stipulating a maximum amount of debt that the federal government can issue, currently set at about $31.4 trillion.
• In 2011, the Republican-controlled Congress (Tea Party Congress) refused to raise the debt ceiling in order to force the President to agree to spending cuts.
• This was a dangerous move, as it put the U.S. in danger of a sovereign default, which could have caused economic chaos, disruption of trade, and widespread recessions.
• Despite the 2011 debt ceiling crisis being resolved, debt ceiling brinksmanship has become a regular part of the GOP’s political toolkit.
• Currently, Congressional Republicans are holding the process hostage and demanding spending cuts.
• Spending cuts would be beneficial right now, but the correct way to do it is to pass spending cuts in Congress and iron out a budget deal with Biden.
• Debt ceiling brinksmanship is an absolute clown show, making the U.S. look like a banana republic and increasing the risk of recession.
• It is possible that the whole thing is just Congressional Republicans trying to signal toughness and partisanship to their voter base, but this is a boneheaded way of creating political cover.
• Debt ceiling brinksmanship also encourages worse fiscal arsonists who are lurking out there in the margins of the political-economic discourse.

Published January 22, 2023
Visit Noahpinion to read Noah Smith’s original post The fiscal arsonists

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January 20, 2023 (Friday) [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

January 20, 2023

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• Trump dropped a lawsuit against New York attorney general Letitia James after a similar lawsuit yesterday cost him and his lawyer close to a million dollars.
• Trump also backed off on his previous threats to use the debt ceiling to extract concessions from Democrats.
• House Republicans are facing mounting troubles, including Representative Greg Steube’s hospitalization and Representative George Santos’ embarrassing revelations.
• Representative Bill Foster trolled Santos by pointing out the difference between the two parties.
• Representative Jim Jordan has requested information from the Department of Justice, but the DOJ has reminded him that they cannot share information about ongoing investigations.
• The White House has stated that raising the debt ceiling is not a negotiation and that Biden looks forward to discussing strengthening retirement plans and making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in Africa to urge greater connection between African countries and the U.S. and to build stronger ties than those developed with China or Russia.

Published January 21, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post January 20, 2023 (Friday)

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January 19, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

January 19, 2023

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• The US has hit the debt ceiling, and the media is discussing whether Democrats will negotiate with hard-right Republicans who want cuts to domestic spending before raising the debt ceiling.
• Raising revenue to pay for appropriations has historically been the first option, but since 1981, Republicans have made cutting taxes the centerpiece of their economic policy.
• The 2017 Trump tax cuts, especially the cut in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, dramatically increased the deficit without promoting growth.
• The Supreme Court released a statement about the investigation into the leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, but the source of the leak remains unknown.
• Judge Donald Middlebrooks of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ordered Trump, his lawyer Alina Habba, and her law firm Habba Madaio & Associates to pay $937,989.39 for attorneys’ fees and costs after they filed a lawsuit the court found to be “completely frivolous” and a bad-faith use of the court system.
• Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced a constitutional amendment to the House to overturn the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision.

Published January 20, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post January 19, 2023

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The true priorities of the global elite [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

By Spencer Chen

In [Popular Information]

January 18, 2023

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• The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an annual event in Davos, Switzerland, founded by German economist Klaus Schwab, which brings together the global elite to discuss global issues and solutions.
• Critics of the WEF argue that it is a networking opportunity used by the powerful to maintain and expand their wealth and influence, and that documents like the “Davos Manifesto” are meant to mask the true nature of the event.
• The last two years have been an economic windfall for the ultra-wealthy, with the richest 1% capturing almost two-thirds of all new wealth.
• Extreme wealth inequality is a policy choice, with taxes for the highest incomes, capital gains, and inheritance having all plummeted in wealthy countries since 1980.
• Billionaires often use the “buy, borrow, die” strategy to avoid taxation, and Senator Ron Wyden proposed a 23.8% tax on the unrealized capital gains of billionaires, which would have raised $507 billion over 10 years.
• The proposal was abandoned due to opposition from Senators Manchin and Sinema, as well as every Republican Senator, and global corporate taxes have fallen from an average of 47.5% in 1980 to 24.9% today.
• President Biden proposed a modest increase in the corporate tax rate from 21% to 25%, which would have helped fund climate investments and benefits for working families, but Sinema opposed the increase.

Published January 18, 2023
Visit Popular Information to read Judd Legum’s original post The true priorities of the global elite

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January 17, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

January 18, 2023

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• Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) promised far-right members of his conference committee seats and more power in Congress to persuade them to vote for him, and now they are collecting.
• Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) have been given committee assignments despite their past controversial behavior.
• Vern Buchanan (R-FL) confronted McCarthy for putting McCarthy ally Jason Smith (R-MO) in the spot of chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
• George Santos (R-NY) was appointed to two committees despite facing pressure to resign due to his campaign lies.
• Republicans are preparing to move forward with an impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
• Greene called for the impeachment of President Biden.
• McCarthy has called for Democrats to talk with him about a plan that will permit an increase in the debt limit while cutting Medicare, Social Security, and federal agencies.
• Biden and administration officials say they will not negotiate with the right-wing Republicans who are trying to get their way by holding the government and the global economy hostage.

Published January 18, 2023

Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post January 17, 2023

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The GOP’s bogus war with corporate America [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

By Spencer Chen

In [Popular Information]

January 17, 2023

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• Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in January 2023, and Republicans have reportedly embraced populism and are at war with corporations.
• Fox News reported that McCarthy has refused to meet with representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and House Republicans have proven to be hostile to corporate interests.
• On February 7, McCarthy will host a mega-fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Washington, DC, with all proceeds benefiting McCarthy’s reelection campaign, McCarthy’s leadership committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
• Jeff Miller, a member of McCarthy’s inner circle, is the host of the fundraiser and has raised millions for McCarthy’s Super PAC and affiliated non-profit organization.
• Miller is also the founder of Miller Strategies, a federal lobbying firm that represents more than four dozen major corporations, including many of the “”woke”” companies McCarthy is supposedly taking on.
• John Stipicevic, a former McCarthy deputy chief of staff and now Chief Advocacy Officer for CGCN, is a co-host of the fundraiser and is a registered lobbyist for Disney.
• Jim Richards and Ben Howard, both corporate lobbyists, are also co-hosts of the fundraiser.

Published January 17, 2023.

Visit Popular Information to read Judd Legum’s original post The GOP’s bogus war with corporate America

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January 12, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

January 13, 2023

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• Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.
• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Congress should conduct its own investigation.
• Republicans have tried to suggest that Biden was being treated differently than Trump is, but the appointment of a special counsel undermines that.
• Biden’s team offered up to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) the information that Biden had documents in his possession, and is apparently cooperating with the Justice Department.
• Trump is apparently being investigated for obstruction and for violations of the Espionage Act.
• Arguments began today in the trial of five Proud Boys for their actions associated with the events of January 6, 2021.
• The Justice Department today argued that the Proud Boys led the attack on the Capitol, while defense attorneys argued that their clients were being used as “scapegoats” for Trump.

Published January 13, 2023. Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post.

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January 11, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

January 12, 2023

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• House Republicans have reverted to culture wars and passed a bill to cut funding for the IRS, which would add to the deficit.
• The Biden administration has responded with criticism, and the Senate will not pass the bill.
• The House also passed two anti-abortion measures, which will not pass the Senate.
• Bloomberg’s editors and Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin have criticized the Republican Party for its lack of a governing agenda.
• Four new Republican representatives from New York called on Representative George Santos (R-NY) to resign due to his lies about his education, work experience, and finances.
• California has been pummeled by storms, creating floods and mudslides, and Governor Newsom and President Biden have declared a state of emergency.

Published January 12, 2023. Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post.

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A new plan to get around the debt ceiling hostage [Matthew Yglesias, Slow Boring]

By Spencer Chen

In [Slow Boring]

January 11, 2023

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• The Treasury Department can use a bond yield trick to raise money without increasing the face value of the debt, which would help them get around the debt ceiling issue.
• This involves offering a bond with a high interest rate and seeing how much money people will give them for it.
• This would slow the pace at which the face value of debt accumulates and even start to reduce the face value of the debt over time.
• This would be done by swapping out old bonds with high face values and low interest rates for equivalent-yielding bonds with low face values and high interest rates.
• The Treasury Department has proposed issuing high-yield bonds to avoid a debt ceiling fight with Republicans.
• This would be a way to avoid doing something flagrantly illegal, as the executive branch has an obligation to pay what it owes according to the laws that exist.
• The biggest practical problem is that troublemakers only need to find one insane district court judge somewhere in the country to order a national injunction and create at least a temporary crisis.
• Joe Biden and his cabinet secretaries do not have the legal authority to blow off the law and not spend what Congress has told them to spend.
• The importance of shooting the hostage is to take the debt ceiling issue off the table and separate the debate over the debt ceiling from the debate over fiscal policy.
• Biden should do a big speech calling for a bipartisan commission on deficit reduction and have the Treasury start working on some high-yield bonds.

Published January 11, 2023. Visit Slow Boring to read Matthew Yglesias’s original post.

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$858,000,000,000 [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

By Spencer Chen

In [Popular Information]

January 3, 2023

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• The United States military budget is set to exceed $1 trillion annually, with over half of the budget going to private contractors.
• Congress routinely approves large increases in military spending without public criticism, and the budget is often financed with deficit spending.
• The budget includes $800 million in support for Ukraine, and $452 billion for private contractors.
• The Pentagon has failed to pass an audit five times since 2017, despite spending $1 billion per year on auditors.

Published January 3, 2023. Visit Popular Information to read Judd Legum’s original post.

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TagCongress

The fiscal arsonists [Noah Smith, Noahpinion]

January 20, 2023 (Friday) [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

January 19, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

The true priorities of the global elite [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

January 17, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

The GOP’s bogus war with corporate America [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

January 12, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

January 11, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

A new plan to get around the debt ceiling hostage [Matthew Yglesias, Slow Boring]

$858,000,000,000 [Judd Legum, Popular Information]

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