GOP Still Trying to Pass a Tax Bill to Destroy America

I honestly don't know what is going on with the Republicans' tax bill at the moment. Normally, I would feel pretty bad about saying that as the introduction to a post, as my primary reason for writing them is to explain what's going on. But, in this case, even Republicans don't know what's going on with their own obscene garbage bill, and neither does anyone else.

What we do know is that Republicans continue to lie about the bill and what its intent is. It is not to "grow the economy." It is, instead, to redistribute wealth upwards and to shrink the revenue of the federal government so severely that Republicans can justify austerity programs that will destroy the paltry social safety net we have.

A Politico piece by Adam Cancryn and Sarah Ferris begins thus:

Republicans are on the verge of a massive tax overhaul that would hand [Donald] Trump his first major legislative victory. But the $1.5 trillion tax package could trigger eye-popping cuts to a slew of federal programs, including Medicare.

Unless Congress acts swiftly to stop it, as much as $150 billion per year would be cut from initiatives ranging from farm subsidies to student loans to support services for crime victims. Medicare alone could see cuts of $25 billion a year.

Yeah. That's the whole point. Congress isn't going to "act swiftly to stop it," because decimating federal programs isn't a bug of this tax bill; it's a central feature.

Senate Republicans need 50 of their 52 members to vote for the bill to pass it with a tiebreaking vote care of VP Mike Pence. As of this morning, four were still holding out public support — Susan Collins (Maine), Bob Corker (Tennessee), Jeff Flake (Arizona), and James Lankford (Oklahoma) — but Mitch McConnell's deputy John Cornyn says they're confident they've got the votes, so the public hold-out seems to be for show in at least two cases.

All of this despite the fact that the "nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation ruled that the tax plan Republicans had hoped to move swiftly through the Senate would add $1 trillion to the deficit — even after accounting for the positive impact from economic growth," and despite the fact that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has "grossly" misled the public about the bill, according to Senator Elizabth Warren, whose concerns prompted the Treasury Department's Inspector General to open "an inquiry into why the department's analysis of the Republican tax plan hasn't been released to the public."

This bill is a vile shitshow. The way it's being passed is craven and deplorable. It will tremendously harm most of the people in this country.

And it's not that the Republicans don't care. That would be giving them far too much credit. They are positively thrilled by all of the above.

Meanwhile, they are already fixing to follow-up the presumed passage of this nightmare by coming for our healthcare again and moving ahead with "a package of gun legislation that would sharply expand concealed-carry rights."

Seethe. Make your calls.

Today, our front page is fully dedicated to calls to fight the many disastrous provisions of the #GOPTaxScam. Because today, we can kill this bill.

Light up the phones, team! 🔥📞🔥

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— 5 Calls 🇺🇸 (@make5calls) December 1, 2017