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Republicans planned for two big successes in the 115th session of Congress: ObamaCare repeal and comprehensive tax reform. The GOP would stuff both down the throats of Democrats and hand easy victories to President Trump in the first year of Republican single-party control of Washington, and set the tone for governance in the new administration.

Things didn't exactly pan out that way. Instead, the tone Republicans set with ObamaCare turned out to be disunity and failure. Seven years of promises evaporated when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn't get 50 Republicans to agree on a repeal-and-replace bill, or even a shell bill to keep the issue alive. Now, the same problems that killed the ObamaCare repeal may also put an end to dreams of broad reform of the corporate and individual tax codes.

The first hurdle Republicans would have to clear is passing a budget resolution, a task usually completed by early spring. Instead, the House Budget Committee finally got around to passing one in mid-July. Rather than take it up immediately to prepare the way for budget negotiations after the August recess, it stalled while lawmakers headed home to their districts. That presents a big problem for tax reform under reconciliation, which requires an approved budget resolution to enable the path to a simple majority vote in the Senate.

What gives? Are Republicans stymied on the budget resolution because of their narrow Senate majority? Not quite. Budget resolutions are not subject to filibusters in the Senate, which means that Republican leadership just need simple majorities to pass identical measures in each chamber. In fact, budget resolutions don't even require a presidential signature. So why has it taken this long to produce one? Maybe because Republican lawmakers would rather do almost anything but pass this bill, which just a few short years ago they demanded as a key to responsible governance.

As with the ObamaCare repeal, it now appears it's easier to pass resolutions and bills when there is little chance that it will make any difference. Now that Republicans control all of the levers of power, House Speaker Paul Ryan's team seems unable to agree on a budget plan, or even whether it needs to come ahead of the tax-reform plan it will enable. In fact, it looks like the budget resolution will face the exact same divisions that plagued the ObamaCare repeal effort.

The Atlantic's Russell Berman writes that fiscal conservatives in the House, still smarting from having to vote for an ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill they disliked, do not trust Ryan on tax reform enough to sign off on the budget. At the same time, the so-called Tuesday Group of House Republican moderates oppose the cuts to entitlement spending that will allow for the tax-reform package to pass under reconciliation, which requires a significant reduction in deficit spending in order to qualify for simple-majority passage.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), a Trump ally, tells Berman he's willing to sign off on the budget. But he's not optimistic that it will matter. "We have an eternal conflict within ourselves," Reed explains. "I think that's going to be very difficult to get done."

The budget resolution isn't the only obstacle to tax reform. Congress has to pass 12 appropriations bills by the end of next month to avoid a government shutdown, plus pass a debt limit hike to cover the borrowing necessary in the current budget as well as the next one. Those will all require 60 votes in the Senate, which means that Ryan and McConnell will have to cut deals with Democrats to get those passed. That will limit the amount of money Republicans can cut from spending, which will also make tax reform under reconciliation even more difficult, even if Republicans found a package that would unite them in support. Thanks to the August recess, Congress will have less than a month to accomplish all these tasks.

In short, the window may have already closed on the GOP's other major agenda item this year, thanks to the long delay in passing a budget resolution. Steve Forbes told CNBC on Monday that Republicans have "botched" tax reform, which is a fair interpretation. The best Republicans can do now, Forbes argues, is to cut tax rates, make them retroactive to the beginning of the year, and push off any ideas of comprehensive reform until the next session of Congress.

"The prospect of a political disaster next year is going to get these guys to do what they should have done months ago," Forbes predicted. "They will make change on the corporate side, get it down to 20 percent or so. On the individual side, I think you'll see 10 percent to 15 percent across the board rates, tax rates like we did in the early '80s and save the heavy lifting on cleaning up the code after next year's election."

It sounds like a pretty good plan, with one key flaw: It assumes Republicans remain in control of both chambers of Congress after the midterm elections in 2018. After the sorry and chaotic start to the 115th session, voters might look for a change in the 116th.

See the rest here:
Republicans may have already bungled tax reform - The Week Magazine

The nations leading electric utility and their affiliated companies, along with top utility executives, contributed more than four times as much money to the Republican Governors Association in the first six months of 2017 than to the Democratic Governors Association, according to a new report.

Governors can have a significant impact on the activities of utility companies in their states, whether it is appointing members to state regulators commissions or developing energy policy. Most recently, Republican governors in Maine and Indiana played important roles in impeding the growth of clean energy in their states, UtilitySecrets.org, a joint project of the Energy and Policy Institute and the Center for Media and Democracy, stated in the report.

In Indiana,Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed abillthat shreds incentives for rooftop solar, delivering a blow to solar installers and their customers. In Maine,lawmakersfailed to overrideGov. Paul LePages(R) veto of a solar bill aimed at boosting rooftop solar growth. The actions by the Republican governors were supported by the electric utilities in the state.

There are two gubernatorial elections in 2017 and 36 in 2018. Twenty-six of these seats are currently held by Republicans. With West Virginia Gov. Jim Justices recent switch to the Republican Party, the GOP now holds 34 governorships, an all-time high for the party.

The results in the large number of gubernatorial elections in 2018 will likely play a role in how the United States goes aboutcutting carbon dioxide emissions, according to a report released last week by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. (ThinkProgress is an editorially independent news site housed in the Center for American Progress.)

For the United States as a whole, however, meaningful action on climate change will require expanding the map of states actively involved in curbing carbon pollution and preparing for its effectsas well as ratcheting up current actions and commitments, the report stated. A change in leadership in New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan to one with a strong focus on reducing carbon pollution would send a clear message to the White House and the rest of the world that American voters support climate action.

In its report, UtilitySecrets.org found that electric utilities, their affiliated companies, and their executives contributed $1,154,355 to the Republican Governors Association in the first six months of 2017, compared to $286,427 donated to the Democratic Governors Association.

The group has similar lawsuit pending against Scott Pruitt in Oklahoma.

Fifteen companies surveyed by UtilitySecrets.org contributed money only to the Republican Governors Association. Five companies or associations Dominion Energy, PSEG Services, Southern Co., Xcel Energy, and the Edison Electric Institute, the electric utility industrys leading trade association contributed money to both the Republican and Democratic governors associations.Only PSEG Services donated more to the Democratic Governors Association than to the Republican Governors Association, and only Xcel Energy donated equal amounts to the two groups.

Only one utility, Puget Sound Energy, contributed solely to the Democratic Governors Association. The company serves1.1 million electric customers and 800,000 natural gas customers in Washington state, a state that has had only Democratic governors over the past three decades.

Its pretty clear the utilities have an agenda and Republicans have been more welcoming to help with that agenda compared to Democrats, which can explain the difference, Matt Kasper, research director at the Energy & Policy Institute and author of the report, said in a statement emailed to ThinkProgress. And now with Trump in office, corporations that give to these national organizations not only get access to the state leaders, they can get access to the leaders in the executive branch.

Utilities also donated $271,575 to the Republican Attorneys General Association, and $65,450.00 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association over the same period, according to the report. Republicans are hoping to defend 18 attorneys general seats in 2018 and pick up additional seats, including the 2017 attorney general race in Virginia.

UtilitySecrets.org gathered their data fromfilingsdetailing expenditures and funders recently submitted to the IRS by the governor and attorneys general associations.

Read the rest here:
Top utilities are spending a lot of money to elect Republican governors - ThinkProgress

Congressional candidate Katie Hill was sitting around a kitchen table with a local activist group last spring when one of the attendees asked her a question: Will she have to soft pedal her stance on any issues to unseat Republican Rep. Steve Knight in the 25th District?

The progressive Democrat started to answer, then paused to ask a person livestreaming the meeting on Facebook: This isnt going to be something that Im going to be blasted all over Facebook for, right?

After getting assurances that the video would only be available to a private group, Hill said one of the issues she cant discuss directly is single-payer healthcare.

"I shouldn't go into the district and talk about single-payer, right? Like, that word by itself is going to be something that just immediately turns off a lot of people," Hill said. "But, if I talk about how we need to make sure that everybody has access to healthcare and that it's affordable for everybody and how having a government option [is needed] at the very least, that is something people can really get behind. It's more about the way we talk about things than being very far apart on issues."

Courtesy of Katie Hill for Congress

Congressional candidate Katie Hill

Congressional candidate Katie Hill (Courtesy of Katie Hill for Congress)

The video, which was posted online to the storage site Dropbox and shared with the Los Angeles Times this week, shows the delicate line some Democratic candidates are walking as the national party goes after the more than 30 seats it needs to win back control of the House. The idea of a single-payer healthcare system, in which the government pays for a base level of healthcare for all citizens, has been growing in popularity in party circles since it became a major policy plank in Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. But it remains a nonstarter for many conservatives, and is unlikely to catch on in a Republican-controlled Congress and White House.

The path to a House Democratic majority goes through the seven California Republican-held districts that backed Hillary Clinton in 2016. That includes places like the 25th District, where voters have sent Republicans to Congress for decades, but Democrats have a 3-percentage-point voter registration lead and voters there chose Clinton by nearly 7 percentage points in 2016.

Hill said in an interview that she believes the country will eventually have single-payer healthcare, but using the term puts off people in a district with a large number of conservative voters. Hill said she asked whether the video shot during a May 2 gathering for the liberal activist group Indivisible would be widely shared because talking to a liberal group is different than talking to the general public.

Look, is it the best idea to be talking about the strategy for how we frame conversations? Probably I wouldnt be advised thats what I should say, Hill said.

Hill has spoken publicly about her wish for every person to have healthcare, and paying out of pocket for her teenage brothers drug addiction treatment. But she said achieving a single-payer healthcare system shouldnt be prioritized over working for healthcare solutions in the interim, including practical fixes to the system that both sides can embrace.

It comes down to having nuanced discussions, Hill said. As purple districts, we have the opportunity to say, No, we cant have these binary conversations.

Healthcare is expected to be a key issue in the 2018 contests.

Democrats are already lambasting GOP lawmakers, including Knight, for backing their party's House healthcare bill in May. Knight has said it was a tough vote, but he thinks it was the right bill to address changes needed to the Affordable Care Act, and he isnt worried about Democrats using it against him.

At the same time, some have threatened to make support for single-payer healthcare a litmus test for Democrats. Our Revolution, a political group inspired by Sanders, threatened primary challenges this week against Democrats who arent vocal about it.

Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, told Politico, "We're not going to accept no more hemming and hawing. No more game playing. Make your stand."

Backers of single-payer healthcare in California are also trying to recall Democratic Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon because he shelved a bill to create a state system earlier this year.

But the National Republican Congressional Committee is trying to use single-payer healthcare against Democrats. Just last week, it went after another Democrat in the race against Knight, Bryan Caforio, over whether he supports a single-payer system. He has said for months that he does, although Caforio, like Hill, doesnt use the phrase. Hes more likely to refer to Medicare for all.

This is a universal human rights issue and Im going to talk about that in the district, Caforio said.

Caforio lost to Knight in 2016 by 6 percentage points. Three other Democrats have announced challenges, but Caforio and Hill have an early fundraising lead.

sarah.wire@latimes.com

Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter

Read more about the 55 members of California's delegation at latimes.com/politics

ALSO:

'May you die in pain': California GOP congressman gets an earful at town hall

Steve Knight faces heated questions about Trump policies at town hall

More here:
How does a progressive Democrat try to unseat a Republican? Step one: Don't talk about single-payer healthcare - Los Angeles Times

MSNBC

Republican makes provocative comments about McCain's brain cancer MSNBC It's no secret that Republicans were disappointed when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joined Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and 48 Senate Democrats in derailing the GOP's far-right health care plan two weeks ago. But just ... and more »

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Republican makes provocative comments about McCain's brain cancer - MSNBC

President Trump made a surprise endorsement on Tuesday night in Alabamas Republican Senate primary, throwing his support behind incumbent Sen. Luther Strange over the other conservative candidates running just one week before election day.

Senator Luther Strange has done a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama, Trump tweeted. He has my complete and total endorsement!

The primary to fill the seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set for next Tuesday, Aug. 15. A run-off will be held Sept. 26 if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, which seems likely in the crowded field though polling has been scarce.

Mr. President, what an honor, Strange tweeted after Trumps announcement. Thank you so much for your support and confidence. Proud to work with you to #MAGA #ALsen.

Trump's endorsement is a major blow to U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a conservative lawmaker who has been endorsed by pro-Trump figures, including Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity.

"I respect President Trump, but I am baffled and disappointed Mitch McConnell and the swamp somehow misled the president into endorsing Luther Strange, Brooks said in a Wednesday statement.

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who has the ardent support of Christian conservatives, is also vying for a spot in the run-off and has vowed to be a reliable advocate for the Trump administration in Washington.

Trump's endorsement of Strange is a win for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose political operation has been boosting Strange while running ads portraying Brooks as not sufficiently pro-Trump.

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Brooks supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, something his opponents have used against him. A super PAC with ties to McConnell, the Senate Leadership Fund, has been running television ads of Brooks past critical comments about Trump.

Meanwhile, Brooks has been tying Strange to the Republican establishment and McConnell, whom he says he would not vote for as Republican majority leader.

Strange, the states former attorney general, was temporarily appointed to the seat in April after Sessions joined the Trump administration.

His opponents have used that appointment from former Gov. Robert Bentley against him: Stranges office was investigating Bentley before the governor made him senator. Bentley has since resigned from office in scandal.

The contest has been defined largelyover candidates emphasizing their support of the president in a state where the president remains widely popular.

TRUMP-SESSIONS FEUD JOLTS ALABAMA SENATE PRIMARY

Discussing Trumps election to the White House, Strange said this month: "I consider it a biblical miracle that he's there."

Brooks has vowed to fight for funding for Trumps border wall. And if I have to filibuster on the Senate floor, Ill even read the King James Bible until the wall is funded, Brooks said in a recent ad.

Moore told the Associated Press in May: God puts people in positions in positions he wantsI believe he sent Donald Trump in there to do what Donald Trump can do.

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Trump endorses Strange in Alabama's GOP Senate primary - Fox News