On Thursday, the House is planning to vote on a budget bill that would make the upcoming tax plan proof against Democratic action.
Without the plan, Senate Republicans, who hold a slim 52-48 majority, would need to secure 60 votes. That would require support from Democrats, who have called the tax plan championed by Republican President Donald Trump a giveaway to corporations and the wealthy.
They call it that, because the plan is a giveaway to corporations and the wealthy. But if Republicans can pass their budget bill, they can weasel out of that dang old democracy and put this bill on a Republican-only track where it stands a better chance of passage than the thwarted attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The only thing standing between the Trump kids and their multi-billion dollar inheritance is a possible rebellion among a handful of House Republicans. Not the Republicans on the far right, or even the Republicans of the alt-Reich. This time the possible rebellion comes from the “moderate” wing of the party.
At least four House Republicans on Wednesday said they would vote against the budget because it included language added in the Senate that refers to “reducing federal deductions, such as the state and local tax deduction which disproportionately favors high-income individuals.”
In truth, there are no “moderate” House Republicans. However, there are those who live in states where the tax plan would be particularly punishing. Those Republicans are a tad nervous about voting for something that would milk the residents of their own states to reward corporations and billionaires located elsewhere.
Only this “moderate” rebellion seems to have failed before it’s even begun.
Thursday, Oct 26, 2017 · 3:03:43 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
House passed bill 216-212
In a sign that Republican leadership thought they had this in the bag, what was expected to be an afternoon vote instead took place on Thursday morning, where the revolt of the what-passes-for-moderates-these-days fizzled.
GOP leaders were set to meet with the Republicans from those states — think New York, New Jersey, California and Illinois — on Wednesday night in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) office to hash out a compromise. Leaders ended up canceling the meeting — a sign of their building confidence that the blue-state detractors won’t sink the whole project before it launches.
Republican leadership is convinced they have this in the bag handily enough that representatives in states that the bill goes out of its way to punish, aren’t necessary.
Thanks for carrying all that water for the party Devin Nunes, Peter King, Steve Knight, Claudia Tenney, Kevin McCarthy, Darrell Issa, et. al. Now watch while your fellow Republicans vote to take billions from the people who live in your states to patch over Republican budget disasters elsewhere.
But of course, most of these representatives will vote for the bill themselves.
There were signs Wednesday that the SALT deduction proponents might be splintering in their effort to force action before the budget vote. Some of those who had threatened earlier in the week to vote against the budget absent a deal stepped back from those threats, and at least two New York Republicans, Reed and Rep. Chris Collins, said they would vote for the budget …
Republicans are engineering a budget plan that will once again leave the vote in the Senate up to a handful of Republican senators. Don’t expect any heroics from Jeff Flake or John McCain, both of whom voted this week to protect banks from actions by consumers.