Hey, you know that unnecessary $1.5-trillion deficit increase that John Thune, Mike Rounds, and 49 other Republican Senators voted for last night?
Nobody read it. Nobody could read it. The 479-page final draft, submitted after sunset, just hours before the vote, included illegible handwriting:
I was just handed a 479-page tax bill a few hours before the vote. One page literally has hand scribbled policy changes on it that can’t be read. This is Washington, D.C. at its worst. Montanans deserve so much better. pic.twitter.com/q6lTpXoXS0
— Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) December 2, 2017
Rushed party-line votes on massive legislation no one can read to shift more wealth from working people to Donald Trump—government at its worst, indeed.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQAAIYwW0AE1cXT.jpg
This shows what thwe bill with addendumbs added looks like. Good luck reading.
A 0.4% increase from the anemic 1.48 average over the Obama history will more than cover the increase. . . We are on track to over 3.5% for just the first year of the Trump Recovery Effort.
It is quite fitting that the first major piece of legislation that Trump and his Republican Congress will pass is a massive buffet of largesse for the richest Americans while the middle class gets cold leftovers and the poor get their garbage scraps taken away from them. Don the Con rallies his base with hate speech and lies and then uses his power to favor the swamp creatures he pledged to deprive of their habitat. Don the Con gives away his $400,000 salary as President while his tax bill saves him and his family hundreds of millions in income tax and billions in estate tax. He has taken on the best paying job in America, fleecing our country for his personal benefit for four years while the taxpayers pay for trips to his own resorts and his businesses capitalize on his position as President.
The masses that elected him will not benefit from this tax plan, but Trump and his rich friends will reap the rewards of his office. Their investment in him is paying off handsomely.
OldSarg, have you noticed how Republican presidential administrations result in recessions and Democratic presidential administrations result in economic expansion?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/11/20/trumps-turn-republican-presidents-rule-recessions/93976832/
I expected all the “conservative” folks that frequent this site would be up in arms about the deficit, about this legislation being forced thru with no opposition input, about not having time to read what is in it, no debate, no hearings… I guess they only care during Democratic administrations. Marco Rubio is already on record saying that IF this doesn’t pan out the way the pie-in-the-sky folks are predicting, we will have to look at cuts in SS and Medicare, a Republican wet dream! Enjoy, folks!
Trump is doing exactly what he campaigned against: He and the wealthy power brokers of the GOP have gamed the system in their favor. From the Washington Post:
“But this is not just about Trump. The Senate tax plan is basically a huge permanent corporate tax cut, tailored to fit within deficit and procedural constraints by setting the benefits for the working and middle class to expire, making it possible to pass entirely on party lines a large permanent tax cut overwhelmingly benefiting the top 1 percent, facilitated by a tax hike later for as many as 50 percent of less-fortunate taxpayers. This sort of legislative chicanery is, at bottom, just what Trump decried — very wealthy donors benefiting from politicians cleverly gaming the system on their behalf. It’s the very scam Trump vowed to put to an end.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/11/30/trump-would-win-big-under-his-tax-plan-but-the-betrayal-runs-much-deeper-than-that/?utm_term=.a11d518f5c3f
Russian interests are doing exactly what they campaigned for. If anything passes and is signed into law that has to do with lowering real estate pricing, then the Russians have won a huge victory. By doing this, they will be free to launder money in a way that was unprecedented in the past. And, let us not forget the Silk Road of the Chinese, (look that up), it all fits nicely. We Americans will be able to hire ourselves out for security as we have the machinery for that purpose. How can you buy a complete armed force that is ready to go? Ask NOem/Thune/Rounds and the orange russian.
They do not want anyone to know what they did. When Orin Hatch, chair of the committee said that if they did not pass it they would not get donations and the party would colapse. This is proof that the Republicans are bought out by the rich and know it.
Unbelievable how the GOP Party does business. Well, anything is believable these days from the party of racists and red ink. They must really be itching for the end times, because they’re doing their best to bring them on.
soooooo…..and which congressman and woman read Obamacare? Tell me WHO READ OBAMACARE???!!
Lora, that is a classic example of “whataboutism.” Are you suggesting that because some people passed bad legislation in the past without reading it then it’s acceptable for people to do so now?
Historically, here is the ACA/Obamacare and how long all were given that opportunity you are mentioning Ms. Hubbel “”In June and July 2009, with Democrats in charge, the Senate health committee spent nearly 60 hours over 13 days marking up the bill that became the Affordable Care Act. That September and October, the Senate Finance Committee worked on the legislation for eight days — its longest markup in two decades. It considered more than 130 amendments and held 79 roll-call votes.
The full Senate debated the health care bill for 25 straight days before passing it on Dec. 24, 2009.”” Sooooooooooo, I would be willing to put up a sawbuck that says they all got the chance.
Ms. Hubbel, this really makes the case against Thune/Rounds for their thievery, shameful, but predictable with this republican party. “”On Thursday morning, The New York Times revealed that Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, has been lying for months about Republican tax plans. Mnuchin has repeatedly claimed the existence of a Treasury report that — unlike every independent, nonpartisan assessment — found that these plans would pay for themselves, increasing growth and hence revenues so much that the deficit wouldn’t rise. But there is no such report, and never has been; Treasury staffers weren’t even asked to study the issue.
Also on Thursday, John McCain — who has delivered sanctimonious lectures on the importance of “regular order” in the Senate — declared his support for the G.O.P. tax bill. Remember, Senate leaders rushed this bill to the floor without holding any hearings or soliciting expert testimony (and tax policy is an area where you really, really need to hear from experts, lawyers and accountants even more than economists). In fact, at the time McCain declared his support, some key provisions were still secret, so they could be presented for a vote with no time for debate.””
Paul Krugman, New York Times
Everyone acts surprised. There may be a simple reason Rounds and Thune voted o a bill bill without reading it. They can not read!
Will these three cowards we have in the senate and house have town hall meetings to explain this tax reform to us or will they continue to run away from constituents.I think coward is a very good word to describe ;what we have in D.C.mMike
I say jerry wins this thread.
(Unfortunately most Americans lose under the legislation that the thread is about.)
Worth repeating: soooooo…..and which congressman and woman read Obamacare? Tell me WHO READ OBAMACARE???!!
Turn out the lights
The party’s over
They say that all
Good things must end
Call it a night
The party’s over
And tomorrow starts
The same old thing again
For months and even years before the 2016 election Rounds, Thune, and Noem told us that the single biggest issue facing this nation was the existence of the ACA. The ACA was the reason for wars, terrorism, drought, hurricanes, blizzards, disease, crumbling infrastructure, murders,the national debt, low farm prices, and on and on and on. So when they are finally in charge of everything in government and were going to drain the swamp and have the opportunity to completely repeal the ACA because that alone would make our lives better, what happens? A big nothing. I have heard these 3 being compared to Larry, Moe, and Curly, so it shouldn`t surprise anyone that they would blindly pass legislation without knowing what was in it. All that they are interested in is enriching themselves and their campaign contributors and the upper class, and working to ensure that the lower and lower middle classes are prevented from ever having things as good as they do. One of the principles of Nazi Germany was to make sure that everyone who wanted a job had one, but to keep wages so low that the people could never get ahead. They would feel fortunate just to have a job and therefore wouldn`t rock the boat. Tell me how things are any different today. Hopefully Noem will be unemployed next year, but the unfortunate thing is that Rounds and Thune are imbedded like ticks on a dog. Thune is going to have to become a man some day and quit standing 2 paces to the left and 2 paces behind McConnell during their photo ops when they aren`t explaining to us how we are going to get screwed again.
Rep. Thomas Garrett (R-Va.) said he does not believe anyone has read the entire Obamacare replacement bill, according to CNBC.
“I don’t think any individual has read the whole bill. That’s why we have staff,” the congressman said Thursday, the CNBC report said.
Bigmouth, which wingnuts read the Patriot Act before it was sprung on Congress with a day or two before the vote?
The taxcuts for billionaires bill is impossible to be read. It is not even a finished product, no one has any idea what the final product will be and Dems haven’t been allowed as much as a peek at it until a few hours before the vote.
Stick a sock in it. This budget and deficit busting monstrosity will bite you and all wingnuts in the arse in 2018 elections.
Mike- it is possible there might not be enough cops in small towns to protect these despicable, phony kristians if they bother to show up in North Mississisppi ever again.
Then I find out it was Dem Mark Warner that placed an amendment into the bill to allow loansharks to get around state limited interest rates.
So to be clear, OldSarg is abandoning the expectation that lawmakers should read the bills on which they vote and will never cite that obsolete principle again to argue against the Affordable Care Act or any other passed legislation?
Perhaps, and it’s only a thought, some (both Rs and Ds) feel it’s OK to vote yes on lawbills which purport to do things one believes in, and it’s bad to vote yes on lawbills which purport to do things one does not believe in.
Much like how 95% of the idiots who got hoodwinked into voting for the IM #22 did not read it. If they had, they wouldn’t now be surprised at the unconstitutional and slimy stealing of taxpayer money for politicians.
Same thing. grudznick wins another debate.