Campaign Action
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has a new problem in trying to come up with a Trumpcare revision by Friday. There's opposition from some surprising corners to the idea that they're giving that completely egregious retroactive capital gains tax cut to the rich and slashing Medicaid at the same time. One of those senators isn't a surprise—Susan Collins (ME) has stated a slew of objections to the bill and is almost certainly a solid "no" to anything McConnell produces this week. It's the others that are making life more complicated for him.
Susan Collins of Maine and Mike Rounds of South Dakota both criticized the draft bill released by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for repealing a surtax on net investment income imposed under Obamacare. [...]
A third Republican, Bob Corker of Tennessee, expressed discomfort with the idea of cutting taxes on the rich while transferring burdens on the poor. […]
The draft legislation would eliminate a 3.8 percent tax on net investment income such as capital gains and dividends for people who earn more than $200,000 and couples with incomes over $250,000—retroactively, effective Dec. 31, 2016. Ending the tax would cost the federal government about $172 billion over a decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.
Rounds called for using the savings to expand tax credits for Americans who are currently ineligible for assistance because their spouses have employer plans that don’t cover them. The South Dakota Republican said GOP leaders have told him the proposal would receive a CBO score.
There's a tacit admission here that's important to note: this is a burden on the poor. That's counter to the ongoing Republican lie that they're not cutting Medicaid at all. That it won't hurt low-income people.
Also, it's one more wrinkle for McConnell. His hardcore people—Rand Paul (KY), Mike Lee (UT), Ron Johnson (WI), Ted Cruz (TX)—they want each and every tax included in the Affordable Care Act repealed, just as they want the whole law erased from the face of the earth. There's an increasing group of senators who recognize how politically awful this bill is—even in South Dakota!—that McConnell needs.
There's one more really great statement to make when you call your Senators' office. "Don't take healthcare from the working poor for big tax cuts for the rich."
