Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned his Democratic colleagues in a letter Tuesday of the growing chance of a government shutdown, declaring that “Republicans are once again threatening to go-at-it-alone” by not negotiating with Democrats on a stopgap spending measure.
Schumer said the Trump administration is provoking a standoff over government funding by moving forward with a “pocket rescission” to claw back nearly $5 billion in federal funding for the S...
Senate
Trump, GOP face tough choices for second tax bill
President Trump and Republican lawmakers passed their major tax-and-spending cut bill earlier this summer, faster than almost anyone else in Washington, D.C., was expecting.
Now, they're planning their second act.
The new law extended Republicans’ 2017 tax-rate reductions while making big cuts to healthcare and other social programs, adding $3.4 trillion to the national deficit through the next decade.
But there's still plenty of tax policy left for Con...
Schumer, Jeffries call on GOP leaders to meet to avoid government shutdown
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) have sent a letter to Republican leaders calling on them to schedule a meeting “immediately” to discuss the path to a funding deal to avoid a government shutdown after Sept. 30.
Schumer and Jeffries want a “four corners” negotiation of the top party leadership in each chamber to put together a deal on a stopgap funding measure that would give lawmakers more time to finish work o...
Scholten drops out of Iowa Senate race, endorses fellow state rep
Iowa State Rep. J.D. Scholten (D) announced Monday he is suspending his campaign for U.S. Senate and endorsing fellow State Rep. Josh Turek (D) in his bid to unseat incumbent Sen. Joni Ernst (R).
“Today I am suspending my campaign. I know this may come as a surprise but I made this decision because I think it's in the best interest of Iowans and myself,” Scholten said in a statement.
“From the very beginning, I thought a prairie populist athlete from Western Iowa ...
US Chamber takes lead in selling Trump, GOP ‘big, beautiful bill’ after Medicaid fight
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is taking the lead in helping congressional Republican sell President Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act to a skeptical public after this year’s bruising battle over deep Medicaid cuts tarnished the public image of President Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment.
The U.S. Chamber, one of the nation’s pre-eminent business groups, plans to hold 100 round-table discussions about the trillions of dollars in assorted tax cuts and tax incentiv...
Democrats divided over looming government shutdown fight
Democrats are deeply divided over how hard to press their leverage with President Trump and his Republican allies on getting concessions in a bill to fund the government that needs to pass by Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown.
Senate Democrats held a tense lunch meeting Tuesday to discuss their plan for how to vote on the first spending bill to reach the floor — the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill — as well as their strategy for how to handle the end-o...
Republicans gear up to sell their ‘big, beautiful bill’ back home
Senate Republicans are quickly shifting into sales mode as they attempt to pitch voters on their mammoth tax and spending bill in the face of an onslaught of Democratic attacks.
Republicans accomplished a herculean lift in getting the “big, beautiful bill” to President Trump’s desk by July 4. But that might be nothing compared to the task of selling a bill that even some within their party expressed deep reservations about — and that some are fretting could have an Affordab...
GOP faces ‘big, beautiful’ blowback risk on ObamaCare subsidy cuts
Medicaid cuts have received the lion’s share of attention from critics of Republicans’ sweeping tax cuts legislation, but the GOP’s decision not to extend enhanced ObamaCare subsidies could have a much more immediate impact ahead of next year’s midterms.
Extra subsidies put in place during the coronavirus pandemic are set to expire at the end of the year, and there are few signs Republicans are interested in tackling the issue at all.
To date, only Se...
When will key aspects of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ take effect?
President Trump signed his sweeping tax cut and spending package known as the "big, beautiful bill" into law during a Fourth of July celebration on Friday.
The measure boosts defense and border wall funding and makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, offsetting some of those costs with deep cuts to Medicaid, food assistance programs, student loans and clean energy programs.
Some of the law’s key pieces will take effect later this year, while others will not be impl...
Senate megabill marks biggest Medicaid cuts in history
Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed the largest cuts to Medicaid since the program began in the 1960s, a move that would erode the social safety net and cause a spike in the number of uninsured Americans over the next decade.
The tax and spending bill is projected to cost more than $3 trillion during that time, but it would be partially paid for with about $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid.
Almost 12 million lower-income Americans would lose their health insurance...