Democrats in Blue Jersey were the first to gripe when President Trump shaped his 2017 tax cut to deliver most of the cash to the wealthiest among us, while leaving crumbs for the middle-class.
So, it is quite a spectacle to see them now, doing the same thing. If it was a sop to the rich when Trump did it, isn’t it the same when Democrats do it?
The tax cut in question is the federal deduction for state and local taxes, known as the SALT deduction. The 2017 law capped that deduction at $10,000, which is just above the average New Jersey homeowner pays in property taxes alone. So, this change hit hard in blue states like New Jersey, New York and California, where state and local taxes are highest.
But their solution is as bad as the problem. Instead of devising a remedy aimed at protecting the middle-class, our delegation is insisting on changes that skew the benefits to the very rich by lifting the cap to $80,000. Middle-class families don’t pay anywhere near that amount in state and local taxes. By lifting the cap that high, Democrats are ensuring that most of the dollars go to the rich.
Here are the numbers, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: Two-thirds of households earning more than $1 million a year would get a tax cut, while just one-third of those earning less than $100,000 would. In all, 80 percent of the money would go to those making over $200,000.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is choking on the hypocrisy of Democrats. “It sends a terrible, terrible message,” he says. “You can’t be on the side of the wealthy and the powerful if you’re going to really fight for working families.”
Sanders is negotiating with Sen. Bob Menendez on an improved version that would cap the income of those who can claim the deduction. Sanders is willing to set the income limit at $400,000, while Menendez is pressing for $550,000 for individuals and twice that for couples. Here’s hoping that Sanders prevails.
Menendez and Sanders will probably reach agreement, a key hurdle for the Build Back Better bill. The Senate version would then go back to the House for a vote, and that’s where House Democrats in swing districts will face a moment of truth.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer has threatened to vote against the bill if he’s unsatisfied with the SALT provisions, putting at risk the core of President Biden’s agenda, including the muscular efforts to fight climate change and reduce child poverty. One hopes that he is bluffing. To steer this ship into the rocks over SALT would be an obscene overreaction.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Rep. Tom Malinowski argue that the $10,000 cap passed in the 2017 bill effectively punishes states like New Jersey that spend generously on education, health care, and other progressive causes that benefits families of modest means. In red states that are stingier, the cap would not have the same bite.
“It benefits a state like Florida, and punishes a state like New Jersey,” Sherrill says.
“They wanted to bludgeon states like New Jersey into becoming more like Kansas,” says Malinowski.
That’s undeniable true and is especially obnoxious when you consider that blue states tend to send more money to Washington than they get back. In 2019, according to the Rockefeller Institute, New Jersey lost $10 billion in that exchange, a huge number. In that same year, Florida gained $51 billion.
But the answer isn’t to shower benefits on the rich. That doesn’t even the score for middle-class families, it only widens the economy inequality within our borders.
For Democrats representing suburban swing districts, including Sherrill, Gottheimer, Malinowski and Rep. Andy Kim, it is a political imperative to deliver some relief from the SALT cap. But it is not imperative that it be designed to shower its benefits so unequally.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, said SALT adjustments designed in a “way too generous way” would allow well-off Americans to disproportionately reap tax benefits, particularly after unwinding the 2017 tax cuts was taken off the table. “That’s pretty problematic for me,” he told Insider.
“I supported the concept Bernie put forth, that basically there was a cap but it would diminish as income went up. I don’t think it should be unlimited,” Sen. Angus King of Maine told Insider.
Senate Democrats are racing to approve the social legislation by Christmas Day, but the escalating SALT dispute threatens to derail their timetable. It prompted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to call a meeting in his Capitol Hill office on Tuesday afternoon in hope of inching closer to a resolution.
Sanders, Menendez, and King, as well as Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts were among the eight Democrats that attended. They left with no sign of a deal.
A Menendez spokesperson told Insider that “any attempt to raise revenue is a non-starter” for the New Jersey Democrat, adding “a revenue-neutral proposal on SALT is the only viable path forward.”
Then a Bennet spokesperson described the meeting as “productive” and reiterated the Colorado Democrat’s belief that the House SALT measure is “unacceptable.”
“Senator Bennet argued we need to make the bill’s tax provisions more progressive,” the spokesperson told Insider.
Despite the obstacles, key negotiators recognize that some deal must be struck if they want to pass the package. “We got to reach compromise,” Sanders told Insider. “A lot of people feel good about it.”
This is how Roe v. Wade ends — without pretense or pretext, the conservative movement’s tireless dream of forced birth, brought to fruition through the naked promises of Donald Trump, who said if he could put “another two or perhaps three justices on,” Roe would be overturned “automatically, in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the Court.” On Wednesday, all three of Trump’s justices hearing a case challenging Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban seemed ready to prove him right. Even John Roberts’s feeble attempts at describing, if not actually finding, a compromise would mean overturning all the prior Supreme Court decisions that have made abortion legal.
Oral arguments have misled people into making false predictions before, but if any of the conservatives were inclined to pull a surprise move, there was no sign of it in the almost two-hour-long session. For the first time in nearly 30 years, everyone arguing about abortion before the Court and the justices had to put their cards on the table.
By Supreme Court standards, the session was unusually blunt and at times heated. Stephen Breyer crankily noted that anyone could see it was the arrival of “new members” that had emboldened the right, perhaps hoping the justices Trump nominated might not want to be pawns. As Roberts noticed aloud, the solicitor general of Mississippi had technically been defending a 15-week abortion ban, a stalking horse for overturning Roe, but in later briefs had abruptly pivoted to openly asking for Roe to be overturned. Roberts didn’t say it, but the only thing that changed in between was that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died and Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed. “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” Sonia Sotomayor asked pointedly.
It seemed obvious that only Roberts, who vainly tried to focus on the 15-week line even when everyone else made clear it was all or nothing, cares for such appearances. There had been some pre-argument rumblings that Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh might defect, perhaps forming a bloc with Roberts to find some middle ground as happened the last time the Court considered overturning Roe in 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey. On Wednesday, neither Barrett nor Kavanaugh seemed inclined to disappoint the movement that put them on the Court.
and then create anew, perhaps. Will have to read more on this, but at first glance I feel that the Supreme Court in a different form, serves an important function. Three branches and all that
If we were to ignore the court too many minority people would have far too few of their rights affirmed. None of that stuff is ever enacted. And without the court those rights would be denied.
It would be intolerable for this court to act on pure whimsy and rule based on their own values and prejudices. Every decision must be based in law. Any justice doing that needs to be impeached and removed for incompetence.
Nothing surprising here. Also, no exceptions for rape nor incest. The Religious freaks have been on the warpath since 1973. They were well-funded, and they never gave up. Somehow, all I feel is a lot of disgust with the American people–period!!
The American people are more worried about whats going on with the Bachlorette than thier rights being taken away one by one. Since the Rs could give a rats ass about the kid once its out of the womb, whom is going to pay to house the orphans? Whose going to pay for the back alley abortions gone wrong when a woman shows at the ER. Some of these kids will grow up in the PIC thus more money needed to keep them locked up. Once again the next generation will have to deal with these issues and stuck holding the bad like with some many of our other problems.
Once the USSC guts R v W, next up gay rights, Birth control. The bible thumpers on the USSC are just getting started. Lets face it the USSC will do the bidding of the R party and justify it with their decisions. The national R’s were watching Wi very carefully as the the WSSC has done the bidding for Vos,Fitzgerald and Walker for over a decade and getting everything they (R’s) wanted. Now its time to take the shit show here nationwide. The result will almost as bad as the muslim extremest clerics that run Iraq. it will just take longer
Benny
So much for separation of church and state. All of Trump’s new appointees are Catholic.
Roe should have been codified years ago. But the Dems wanted their boogey man, and now, here it is. The court is another issue. It does not look like America. It looks like the religious right.
Standing in front of the partial ruins of Rome’s Colosseum, Boris Johnson explained that a motive to tackle the climate crisis could be found in the fall of the Roman empire. Then, as now, he argued, the collapse of civilization hinged on the weakness of its borders.
“When the Roman empire fell, it was largely as a result of uncontrolled immigration – the empire could no longer control its borders, people came in from the east and all over the place,” the British prime minister said in an interview on the eve of crucial UN climate talks in Scotland. Civilization can go into reverse as well as forwards, as Johnson told it, with Rome’s fate offering grave warning as to what could happen if global heating is not restrained.
This wrapping of ecological disaster with fears of rampant immigration is a narrative that has flourished in far-right fringe movements in Europe and the US and is now spilling into the discourse of mainstream politics. Whatever his intent, Johnson was following a current of rightwing thought that has shifted from outright dismissal of climate change to using its impacts to fortify ideological, and often racist, battle lines. Representatives of this line of thought around the world are, in many cases, echoing eco-fascist ideas that themselves are rooted in an earlier age of blood-and-soil nationalism.
I’d swear he’s a lost relative of Cult-45, Mother nature cares very little for borders. Rome fell dur to rampant corruption in the Govt. But our leaders have thier heads so far up their asses and cant see our experiment in Democracy is nearing its end. Oh the propaganda for our 250th birthday will be something else but will mean litte if we dont change our ways sooner than later
Had Oregon Dems not shored up his seat, #OR04 would’ve been a great GOP takeover opportunity. But Dems still favored now that new seat is Biden +13. https://t.co/euXVeQ0ZOI
A conservative group focused on combating President Joe Biden’s economic agenda is launching an almost $800,000 ad campaign pushing Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to oppose the $1.7 trillion social safety net and climate legislation.
Democrats in Congress are aiming to send Biden the bill by year’s end, but that will mean first getting all 50 Democratic-voting senators, including Manchin, on board. Over the coming weeks, Democrats in the Senate are expected to wage intense negotiations to try to strike a balance that keeps the party’s most liberal and its moderates behind the bill.
Republicans lack leverage to block the bill on their own, but pushing the Democrats who are most doubtful — primarily Manchin and centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., — could be their best hope to gum up Biden’s big agenda piece.
The Coalition to Protect American Workers, a group led by Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, is running the ads targeting Manchin in West Virginia and which will begin airing this week.
The ads, which will air over two weeks, will echo issues Manchin has raised with the president’s Build Back Better agenda, namely that it would contribute to inflation and threaten the coal industry.
“West Virginians are struggling as out-of-control inflation is driving up the cost of everything — from gas to groceries,” one of three ads begins. “Fortunately, Joe Manchin’s got our backs. He understands the importance of putting West Virginia people ahead of Washington politics. Tell Manchin — keep fighting for us.”
The ad strikes a different tone than television ads normally do when funded from across the political aisle. But the unusual approach may be to stoke disappointment if Manchin ultimately votes for the bill.
T and R and thanks, jcb!! 🙂 I’ve just got off the horn with a dear friend of mine who is a MT native. Brace yourself, she said it is 60 degrees up there. 🙁 You do not mention climate change and tRump around her, Covid either. She will go ballistic. She’s is getting set to move back to FL in the new year.
wpDiscuz
Newark Star Ledger editorial board
https://www.nj.com/opinion/2021/12/listen-to-bernie-go-easy-on-the-salt-moran.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/salt-senate-dems-sanders-tax-breaks-rich-americans-state-deductions-2021-12
Yeah, I’ve got news for them. They will get their azzes booted out next year for an actual GOPuker cos voters think: what’s the difference?
yes❣️for both!!!!
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/12/supreme-court-looks-likely-to-kill-roe-in-mississippi-case.html?utm_source=tw&utm_campaign=di&utm_medium=s1
https://twitter.com/ilyseh/status/1466066447004803074?s=20
Cry me a river. Snort!
yeah. where did they think amy and kavanaugh were going to take us?
and then create anew, perhaps. Will have to read more on this, but at first glance I feel that the Supreme Court in a different form, serves an important function. Three branches and all that
Term limits for S Ct justices or mandatory retirement would help somewhat. We are stuck with these bozos forever
adding, too. But Republicans will fight tooth and nail unlike another party I know. plus the dinos. plus what u said.
If we were to ignore the court too many minority people would have far too few of their rights affirmed. None of that stuff is ever enacted. And without the court those rights would be denied.
It would be intolerable for this court to act on pure whimsy and rule based on their own values and prejudices. Every decision must be based in law. Any justice doing that needs to be impeached and removed for incompetence.
Nothing surprising here. Also, no exceptions for rape nor incest. The Religious freaks have been on the warpath since 1973. They were well-funded, and they never gave up. Somehow, all I feel is a lot of disgust with the American people–period!!
The American people are more worried about whats going on with the Bachlorette than thier rights being taken away one by one. Since the Rs could give a rats ass about the kid once its out of the womb, whom is going to pay to house the orphans? Whose going to pay for the back alley abortions gone wrong when a woman shows at the ER. Some of these kids will grow up in the PIC thus more money needed to keep them locked up. Once again the next generation will have to deal with these issues and stuck holding the bad like with some many of our other problems.
There is also a correlation between Roe and a major drop in the rate of violent crime.
https://journalistsresource.org/economics/abortion-crime-research-donohue-levitt/
But hey… since when did relifion ever bother itself with facts?
Once the USSC guts R v W, next up gay rights, Birth control. The bible thumpers on the USSC are just getting started. Lets face it the USSC will do the bidding of the R party and justify it with their decisions. The national R’s were watching Wi very carefully as the the WSSC has done the bidding for Vos,Fitzgerald and Walker for over a decade and getting everything they (R’s) wanted. Now its time to take the shit show here nationwide. The result will almost as bad as the muslim extremest clerics that run Iraq. it will just take longer
So much for separation of church and state. All of Trump’s new appointees are Catholic.
That does not sit well with the Protestant Fundie Evangelicals. They can kill each other off if you ask me. Good riddance!
The country would be better off
Roe should have been codified years ago. But the Dems wanted their boogey man, and now, here it is. The court is another issue. It does not look like America. It looks like the religious right.
Theocratic corprat fascist govt will in control
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/21/climate-denial-far-right-immigration
Boris Johnson is a younger version of tRump. I can not believe the Brits with all their history are that stupid!!
I’d swear he’s a lost relative of Cult-45, Mother nature cares very little for borders. Rome fell dur to rampant corruption in the Govt. But our leaders have thier heads so far up their asses and cant see our experiment in Democracy is nearing its end. Oh the propaganda for our 250th birthday will be something else but will mean litte if we dont change our ways sooner than later
For PB
ty🌝
hahaha like they did with bernie.
Must be a Faux news affiliate
Could have easily been MSDLC.
😬
That will be an interesting race.
she’s got a shot, but she will have to overperform to win.
Overcome the latest voter supression laws and hostile state houses
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/bid-block-biden-s-1-7t-bill-conservatives-praise-democrat-n1285099
T and R and thanks, jcb!! 🙂 I’ve just got off the horn with a dear friend of mine who is a MT native. Brace yourself, she said it is 60 degrees up there. 🙁 You do not mention climate change and tRump around her, Covid either. She will go ballistic. She’s is getting set to move back to FL in the new year.
https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1466051935371358215?s=20
❣️🙏❣️🙏❣️🙏❣️
Thou shall not offend the Federalist society
goodnight 😘