Congressional Republicans seem to have already forgotten the wreckage left in the wake of the financial bubble of the late 2000s. During the 2008 financial crisis and related recession, 8.7 million Americans lost their jobs, 3.8 million homes were foreclosed on, and households lost $17 trillion in wealth. As a result of Wall Street’s actions, the U.S. economy lost an estimated $7.6 trillion in goods and services from 2008 to 2018—lost output that Americans are still feeling today.
President Trump’s plan to rely on public-private partnerships (P3) to meet much of the nation’s infrastructure needs took a hit last week when the Texas House rejected legislation that would have allowed P3s to participate in 18 highway projects in the state. Opposition to new tolls reportedly led to the bill’s defeat.
TrumpCare’s funding for high-risk pools falls short by at least $200 billion over 10 years (a conservative estimate, assuming very small pools).
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnunchin recently claimed long-term economic growth will pay for the cost of President Trump’s proposed tax reform plan. This claim relies on using so-called “dynamic scoring,” a tactic long exploited by Republicans to justify not paying for immense tax cuts. However, dynamic scoring methodologies can lead to wildly different estimates that often underestimate how much these tax cuts increase the budget deficit.
Republicans are trying to revive a health care bill that would be a disaster for seniors, children, and millions of hard-working American families. What’s worse — the latest version of TrumpCare would take away protections from millions across the country with pre-existing conditions.
Republicans aren’t waiting for the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to tell the American people how TrumpCare is a disaster, but instead appear to be pushing ahead without a score. Without a CBO score, Americans won’t know just how bad TrumpCare could be for them.
Matt Fiedler of the Brookings Institution writes that the new AHCA amendment could “seriously jeopardize both financial security and access to care for people with serious illnesses.”
Republican plans to undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions could hurt the ability of sick people to get health insurance. Around 130 million nonelderly people have pre-existing conditions, according to the Center for American Progress.
Apr 07 2017
Medium Post: Breaking Down Opportunity Barriers
This week, the Joint Economic Committee held its first hearing of this Congress entitled, “The Decline of Economic Opportunity in the United States: Causes and Consequences.” Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Committee Members heard from several witnesses on how to improve the U.S. economy so more American families that feel left behind can succeed. An overview with highlights from the hearing, including a discussion of immigrant workers’ role in the economy, equal pay for women, and student opportunity barriers can be found here.
Apr 03 2017
Average Tax Change for Each Income Group
Millionaires are poised to get 96 percent of the net tax cuts under the House Republican tax blueprint.
