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Democrats begin to see Pelosi as a 2018 problem Belleville News-Democrat In a survey of 20 Democratic House candidates, only one a former Senate staffer from Orange County, California would state support for the congresswoman staying on as leader of the House Democratic Caucus. Of the rest, 18 declined to say if Pelosi ... Column: Democrats' 'better deal' is a raw dealThe Oakland Press all 13 news articles »

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Democrats begin to see Pelosi as a 2018 problem - Belleville News-Democrat

"Tax reform cannot be a cover story for delivering tax cuts to the wealthiest," the senators wrote in a letter partially spearheaded by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Senate Democrats laid down a marker Tuesday for any future tax reform legislation, urging President Donald Trump and the GOP to seek a bipartisan bill and outlining the conditions to secure their votes.

Many Republicans are pressing their leaders to move past the controversial Obamacare repeal debate and dig in on a tax overhaul, but the tax reform debate looks increasingly likely to reflect the same partisan divisions. Still, Democrats are making their move early in hopes of trying to secure the seats at the negotiating table that the GOP denied them on the Obamacare debate.

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In a letter to Trump and GOP leaders Tuesday, 45 of the 48 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus urged the GOP not to use arcane budget reconciliation procedures to shield any tax reform bill from a filibuster. As the Obamacare repeal effort fell apart, some Republican senators began calling for the inclusion of Democrats on a bill that could win 60 votes.

"Using a fast-track process like reconciliation would undoubtedly result in outsized political influence on the process and significantly hinder lawmakers' ability to close loopholes and end special interest favoritism that plagues our current tax system," wrote the Democratic senators.

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Although Republicans have long indicated they plan to sidestep Democrats again by using reconciliation to pass a tax bill, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short suggested Monday that Democrats representing states Trump carried in November might be inclined to work with his party on the legislation.

The three caucus members who declined to sign Tuesday's tax letter are all up for reelection next year and hail from Trump-won states: Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.).

The Democrats who signed onto Tuesday's letter, spearheaded by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the tax-writing Finance Committee, also made two blunt demands on taxes: They will not back any bill that gives new breaks to the wealthiest individuals and will not back any legislation that adds to the deficit.

"Tax reform cannot be a cover story for delivering tax cuts to the wealthiest," the senators wrote. "We will not support any tax plan that includes tax cuts for the top 1 percent."

The Democrats added that they "will not support any effort to pass deficit-financed tax cuts, which would endanger critical programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other public investments in the future."

The White House has released few details on its preferred parameters for a tax package, with congressional Republicans likely to fill in many details. But the administrations broad tax reform principles suggest that Trump is entertaining a tax bill that would slash rates for upper-income earners. There is still debate within the GOP over whether the tax bill should be entirely paid for or whether it could add to the deficit.

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Senate Democrats set conditions for tax reform - Politico

More than $3 million has poured into the race more than for some recent U.S. congressional races in Washington. The winner will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control Washingtons state Senate.

Seattle Times Olympia bureau

Democrat Manka Dhingra took a comfortable lead Tuesday evening over Republican Jinyoung Lee Englund in a key special Washington Senate election that will determine the balance of power in Olympia.

In the initial returns, Dhingra led with 50.5 percent of the vote in the 45th District race to fill a vacancy created last year by the death of Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond. Englund got about 42.5 percent.

The contest will decide whether the GOP keeps its one-seat majority in the state Senate. Democrats hold a slim majority in the state House, as well as the governorship.

Already, more than $3 million has poured into the race. Just last week, independent political committees reported spending $500,000 in the race most of it against Dhingra. The message I was getting at the doors and from the people in the community is that they were really upset about the ads, said Dhingra.

Democrats have coalesced around Dhingra, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney for King County. In that job, Dhingra supervises a regional mental-health court, a veterans court and a diversion program.

She has pledged to better fund education and raise new revenue through a tax on capital gains, rather than the property-tax shift that lawmakers approved this year to fund a court-ordered K-12 school funding plan. Dhingra has also talked about changing the culture in Olympia to avoid gridlock and address problems with more long-term solutions.

Republicans have rallied behind Englund, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, and spokeswoman for the Bitcoin Foundation. Recently, Englund managed a team that developed a phone app to help the U.S. Marine Corps, in which her husband serves.

Englund has campaigned hard against the notion of a state income tax, which Dhingra also has said she opposes. Englund wants to ease traffic on I-405 by converting one of the HOV lanes into a general-purpose lane. And she has also pledged to cut car-tab fees that voters approved to fund Sound Transit 3.

Tuesday night, Englund described the race as, a choice between a candidate who will raise or create new taxes, and a candidate who wont.

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In high-profile state Senate race, Democrat Manka Dhingra leads Republican Jinyoung Englund - The Seattle Times

Miami Herald

Democrat challenging Curbelo lived in the district for 2 months Miami Herald Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell will challenge Republican Carlos Curbelo to represent voters living in a sprawling Miami-to-Key West district. She doesn't live in the district now, but history shows she has a handy fallback in the Florida Keys.

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Democrat challenging Curbelo lived in the district for 2 months - Miami Herald

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate called on President Donald Trump on Tuesday to block some Chinese investments in the United States to pressure China "to help rein in North Koreas threatening and destabilizing behavior."

In a letter to Trump, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged him to use his authority through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, to pressure Beijing by suspending approval of "all mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. by Chinese entities."

Schumer's request comes amid concern about North Korea, which fired a missile Friday that experts said was capable of hitting Los Angeles. Trump has repeatedly urged China to rein in its ally North Korea, and Schumer agreed.

"It is my assessment that China will not deter North Korea unless the United States exacts greater economic pressure on China," Schumer wrote to Trump, a Republican. "The U.S. must send a clear message to Chinas government."

Senator John Cornyn, a Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was unconvinced that CFIUS was the right tool.

"Thats not specifically the purpose of CFIUS. CFIUS is a national security vehicle to try to make sure that high-tech investments by foreign countries dont steal our cutting-edge technology," Cornyn said outside his Senate office.

"Im happy to work with Senator Schumer to figure out what his concerns are," added Cornyn, who has urged changes at CFIUS because of China. His worry, however, was not North Korea but that China would close the technology gap between the U.S. and Chinese militaries.

Led by the U.S. Department of Treasury, CFIUS reviews foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies on national security grounds and can take action on its own or refer cases to the president.

In an interview with Reuters Friday, the top U.S. counter-intelligence official suggested the Trump administration was already working on a plan to toughen CFIUS.

"Were making significant progress on that, working with both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue," said William Evanina, National Counterintelligence Executive, referring to the White House and Congress. "I think its going to look a lot different than it does now."

Evanina, whose office oversees U.S. government efforts to counter spying and industrial espionage, declined to be more specific but noted that Chinas direct investment in the United States quadrupled from 2015 to 2016, to $48 billion annually.

China's UN ambassador, on the other hand, has said that it was up to Washington and Pyongyang to work toward talks on North Korea's weapons programs.

"(The United States and North Korea) hold the primary responsibility to keep things moving, to start moving in the right direction, not China," China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi told reporters on Monday. "No matter how capable China is, China's efforts will not yield practical results."

While China worries about North Koreas nuclear and missile programs, and the U.S. reaction to them, its overriding concern, U.S. officials say, is to avoid a North Korean collapse, which could send millions of refugees fleeing toward China and lead to a reunified Korea allied with Washington.

Schumer's plan to prohibit CFIUS from approving Chinese deals would be technically legal but would stretch CFIUS' mandate, CFIUS experts said.

"What sounds like effectively a bar on Chinese investment that is being suggested is probably legal but quite different than the case-by-case process that CFIUS has used in the past," said Stephen Heifetz of the law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP who represents clients before CFIUS. "The U.S. government should consider the potential for a Chinese response."

The task force this year faces what could well be a record number of deals, many of them controversial as Chinese firms scout U.S. targets as varied as hotels and film studios to hedge against a weaker yuan CNY=.

Additional reporting by Diane Bartz, Susan Cornwell and Warren Strobel; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Bill Trott and James Dalgleish

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Top Senate Democrat urges Trump to block China deals over North Korea - Reuters