Tax reform this year just got a lot less likely

Sep 7, 2017
The Senate today passed a bill with the first dose of Hurricane Harvey money. It also happens to fund the government for the next three months and raise the debt limit. The bill is the outcome of the shocker of a deal negotiated between President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders yesterday. This version of […]

Why disaster recovery is a long, slow process

Sep 7, 2017
When the storm has passed, local agencies step in to help survivors rebuild.
Justin Davison pulls a trash bag full of flood-damaged items to a trash pile today as he helps a friend clean out his flooded home in Richwood, Texas.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

It'll be hard to cut the corporate tax rate as much as President Trump wants

Sep 6, 2017
Every percentage point cut in the corporate tax rate would cost the U.S. Treasury an estimated $100 billion over a decade.
President Donald Trump with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (L) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), delivers remarks during a meeting with members of Congress and his administration regarding tax reform in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on September 5, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images

To fix Obamacare, look back at another health care battle

Sep 6, 2017
Medicare Advantage was once in jeopardy, too. But then Congress stepped in.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Is tying Harvey disaster relief to the debt ceiling opportunistic?

Linking the two could make raising the debt limit more palatable to Congress, but it puts off a painful conversation about spending cuts.
 Rain from Hurricane Harvey falls on a Texas and U.S. flag on Aug. 26, 2017, in Texas City, Texas.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

South Korea may buy billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. weaponry

Sep 5, 2017
The White House said President Donald Trump has given “conceptual approval” to South Korean plans to buy billions of dollars of U.S. military equipment. And today, the president tweeted that he’s “allowing Japan and South Korea to buy a substantially increased” amount of U.S. weaponry.  So, what U.S. defense contractors stand to benefit from these […]

First Harvey aid package for immediate needs, not long-term recovery

Sep 5, 2017
Congress is expected to vote tomorrow on a $7.8 billion package for aid to those hit by Hurricane Harvey. It’s a first round of funding that almost entirely goes to shoring up FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. That money helps reimburse local search and rescue efforts, and clean up and re-open some public services like schools […]

For public good, not for profit.

Are Dreamers job stealers?

Sep 5, 2017
The fate of 800,000 so-called Dreamers is in question today after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program put in place under President Obama. The program gives undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children the ability to study and work here while protecting them from […]

What lowering the tax rate means for the economy

Sep 1, 2017
Corporations stand to gain, but what about workers?
President Donald Trump participates in a tax reform kickoff event at the Loren Cook Company in Springfield, MO, on August 30, 2017.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Budget is slashed for Obamacare sign up ads

Sep 1, 2017
The Department of Health and Human Services announced it would cut Obamacare advertising money by $90 million, a 90 percent overall cut. The money was meant to be used to encourage people to sign up for insurance coverage. To critics, this is just another sign the Trump Administration is trying to sabotage the law that […]