Category: US

MADISON – Four days before former President Donald Trump is scheduled to host a rally in Wisconsin for Tim Michels, Trump’s endorsed candidate for governor would not commit to supporting Trump for president in 2024.

Michels and his top two opponents in the Republican primary for governor on Monday distanced themselves from Trump during a town hall candidate forum in Milwaukee in their final meeting before voters decide which candidate will compete against Democratic incumbent Gov. Tony Evers in November.

Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and state Rep. Tim Ramthun joined Michels in declining to say they would back Trump for president in two years when asked by a Republican voter whether to support another run for president in light of his actions by him during the attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Save America. Kill the bill. The bill, of course, is the Schumer-Manchin reconciliation bill. Killing it will not be easy, but we will continue to put our best foot forward on policy grounds.

The more we learn about this bill, the less everybody seems to like it. The “Inflation Reduction Act” doesn’t seem to have much inflation reduction in it, according to the Penn-Wharton budget model.

It’s not a supply-side model, but its results suggest that the impact on inflation is statistically indistinguishable from zero. Let me just say, there’s never any automatic link between budget deficits and inflation anyway. So, I never bought that argument to begin with.

The principle cause of inflation is overly easy money and in this current cycle, overly excessive federal spending contributed as well, but one of the economy killers besides sky-rocketing inflation is Biden’s woke regulatory strangling of the economy starting with fossil fuels, but continuing through virtually all business and industry.

BRITISH BUSINESSES CUTTING TIES WITH CHINA OVER INCREASING POLITICAL TENSIONS

President Joe Biden addresses the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly on September 21, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary-Pool/Getty Images/Getty Images)

Biden slapped on $200 billion worth of regulatory costs in his first year alone. That’s more important than a bunch of phony accounting gimmicks designed to bring down the budget deficit for a couple of years.

If you take a look at reconciliation, there’s a $739 billion tax hike and $433 billion in spending, but the Obamacare spending is only scored for three years. Over 10 years it will be over $200 billion, so that wipes out about $150 billion in so-called deficit reduction and the idea that we’re going to give the IRS another $80 billion that will generate another $124 billion in tax revenues, that game is tried again and again, and it fails again and again, and it’s just more phony baloney.

Also, energy loans and loan guarantees are scored as interest-yielding assets generating a lot of money. Good luck with that. Remember Solyndra? Or how those student loans worked out? But the biggest whopper is that the deficit reduction crowd kind of forgot to add in the $280 billion CHIPS+ bill that had no pay-fors.

I’m sure it’s just an oversight, but suddenly when you tally last week’s congressional actions, there’s almost $900 billion in spending against $740 billion in revenues, which sounds like a deficit to me.

Please feel free to check my math, but more important is this whole idea that 100% spending of business investment is a tax loophole. It’s not. The reason taxable income is lower than book income for corporations is you get to deduct by law, by intention, in the 2017 Trump tax cuts, to allow immediate bonus deductions for new plants, equipment, technology, etc.

This was done to make America more competitive, to increase productivity and real wages and typical family incomes on purpose, along with the tax rate reduction from 35% to 21%.

DEMOCRATS DOWNPLAY NONPARTISAN ANALYSIS SHOWING INFLATION BILL INCREASES TAXES

Those were the twin pillars of the supply-side business tax cut and it worked. Median income soared. Unemployment crashed. Poverty fell. Inequality fell and there was no inflation and abstracting from the pandemic shutdown, it paid for itself as the Laffer curve kicked in.

The Schumer reconciliation bill would stop the surge of business investment. Big mistake! And, because 70% of the corporate tax burden is borne by blue-collar working folks, putting in a 15% alternative minimum tax on book income is going to lead to across-the-board tax increases.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, which is no friend of supply-siders, 50% of the burden of the minimum tax would hit manufacturers. By the way, today’s ISM report for manufacturing fell to its lowest level since June 2020, but then, to varying degrees, every other industry will shoulder tax hikes, including a 7.2% tax hike on coal, and a $25 billion tax hike on oil , and for that matter fossil fuels in general and—get this—there’s a carveout for Green New Deal tax credits. There’s a shock!

There’s also a carveout for a refundable tax credit on semiconductors, although the chip industry will be hit hard by the 15% minimum corporate tax. What the one hand giveth, the other hand taketh away.

Some other tidbits, again from the Joint Committee on Taxation: People earning under $10,000 a year will be hit the hardest with a 3.1% tax hike. Folks between $20,000 and $30,000 will have a 1.1% tax hike. People under $100k will get a $6 billion tax hike. People making less than $200ka year will have a $17 billion tax hike.

So pretty much everybody gets a tax hike. What a joy! Just like Christmas in August. Terrific stuff.

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Here’s a multiple-choice question: Will this tax hike make the economy A) growthier, or B) more recessionary? If you answered B, you win the lottery. Next question: Will roughly $900 billion in additional spending generate: A) higher inflation, or B) lower inflation? If you answered B, you also win the lottery.

But on an after-tax, after-inflation basis, lotteries are not worth what they used to. For heaven’s sakes, save America, kill the bill.

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the August 1, 2022, edition of “Kudlow.”

“We have a good, balanced piece of legislation. It’s taken me eight months to get here,” Mr. Manchin said. “The process is what it is. You respect the process, and we’ll see what happens.”

In a notice reviewed by The New York Times, Democratic floor staff offered some advance advice for senators and their aides as they looked toward the marathon voting session. “Please be patient, stay hydrated, wear comfortable shoes, bring snacks for your hideaway, a blanket for your lap as it usually gets cold in the chamber at night and anything else to make you comfortable as we hunker down and get to work,” it said.

Democrats need to stay coronavirus-free.

Unlike the House, the Senate does not have proxy voting that enables lawmakers to vote remotely. The even partisan split in the chamber means that, if all Republicans were present, all 50 senators who caucused with Democrats would also have to be present to muster enough votes for the measure, which would still need the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris to pass.

A recent uptick in coronavirus cases in Congress could imperil those plans.

Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, remained in quarantine on Monday after testing positive last week, but he was expected to return before the end of the week. One Republican, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, said on Monday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, but said of a vote on the reconciliation bill, “If it happens, I will be there, consistent with CDC guidelines.”

The House needs to pass the package.

Assuming the legislation clears the Senate, the House will need to return to Washington to approve the measure. While lawmakers remain scattered across the country for a scheduled summer recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Democratic leaders have said they will call the chamber back into session — with 24 hours’ notice — to vote on the plan.

With just a few votes to spare in the House, Democrats will have to remain united behind the plan to push it through over Republican opposition. Some progressives have expressed frustration about the scaled-down scope of the package and fossil fuel provisions included at the insistence of Mr. Manchin. But many of them have praised the ambitious climate initiatives as worthy of support.

Six men have been shot and one is dead following a shooting in Northeast DC on Monday night, according to DC police.

The other victims have been taken to the hospital for treatment.

DC police Chief Robert Contee said during a news briefing Monday night that there is not a lookout at this time, and police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call them at 202-727-9099.

The circumstances of the shooting, including whether the victims even knew each other, are being investigated, Contee said.

DC police described what happened on the Azeeze Bates property on the 1500 block of F Street as a “critical incident alert.”

Critical Incident Alert: MPD has responded to the 1500 block of F Street NE for a shooting. Preliminary reports of multiple victims. Updates to be provided from the on-scene PIO. Media briefing area will be shared shortly.

— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) August 2, 2022

Members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Washington Field Division were on the scene to help police.

Below is the area where it happened.

It’s the latest in a string of shootings that has happened in the District over the last several days.

Contee said that he’s “angered” and “saddened” that DC residents had to experience the shooting in their community.

“The residents didn’t deserve this. They do not deserve to have people shot in the communities where they live,” Contee said, adding that despite recent efforts to “stem the tide of violence,” there are people who have “just lost their sense of humanity.”

On Saturday during a news conference after a drive-by shooting in which two people were hurt and one person was shot and killed by police, DC police Executive Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict described the last few days as “rough.”

There’s been an increase in violent crime in DC, with homicides up 12% compared to the same time period last year.

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It’s not the first time officials have come together to celebrate construction of a New Portal North Bridge — a replacement for the notorious choke point that delays up and down the Northeast Corridor as it opens for river traffic.

But, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy promised at a groundbreaking Monday, that it would be the day work to replace “one of the most critical connection points along the entire Northeast corridor begins in earnest.”

Federal, state and city lawmakers pledged the start of the long-delayed project, pegged as an economic boon to the region. They gathered around a pile of manure in a parking lot across from where the new bridge will be located, dug in faux gold shovels and tossed several shovelfuls to mark the occasion.

Afterward, lawmakers and attendees lined up to get a photo with US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in a tent.

“Over the years, this critical piece of infrastructure has evolved from a transit marvel into a transit nightmare,” US Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat representing New Jersey, said. “It’s old, it’s limiting and it’s unreliable.”

One out of seven times, the current, nearly 112-year-old bridge swings open to let river traffic through, it gets stuck, he said. Workers have to slam it with sledgehammers to get the alignment back in place, Buttigieg said.

Menendez called the Portal North Bridge a “choke point on the busiest stretch of rail in America.”

The bridge will be 50 feet high, more than double the current bridge’s height, so boats can easily pass below. It’ll also be part of a new 2.4-mile span of track with a gradual incline leading to the bridge, which will allow trains to maintain their speed when crossing. The current bridge has speed restrictions, which forces trains to slow down when crossing.

NJ Transit President Kevin S. Corbett said the first track of the new bridge would open in 2026.

New York and New Jersey officials agreed last month to split about $772 million not covered by federal funding. NJ Transit last year announced it had awarded a nearly $1.6 billion construction contract for the project.

“This project turns the Portal North Bridge from a choke point to an access point,” Buttigieg said at the groundbreaking. “I hope that this bridge will not only bring people to work and loved ones to where they need to be, but it brings renewed confidence in our ability to get things done together. We’ve got a lot more good work where this came from — we are entering into a true infrastructure decade.”

Still, speaking to reporters later, Buttigieg, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, couldn’t say whether a new administration would be able to pull the plug on funding for this project and the much larger Gateway Project — an infrastructure undertaking aimed at expanding rail service into and out of New York City.

During the Trump administration, Gateway and the MTA’s congestion pricing program languished while federal authorities held up the federal review process.

The next step of the $30 billion Gateway Project is to build a new tunnel under the Hudson River. Amtrak, which owns the tunnels, hopes to break ground on that element of the project next year. But it has yet to secure a funding commitment from the federal government.

Buttigieg told the Gothamist his office is doing its best to push that along, but said all projects need to complete the proper paperwork.

“Our focus is to make sure that the gears of government turn as efficiently as they can, knowing that, obviously when you’re talking about what will add up to tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, you gotta do everything right,” he said. “And there’s no do overs.”