THE DAILY WHIP: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2017

Daily Leader

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HOUSE MEETS AT:	FIRST VOTE PREDICTED:	LAST VOTE PREDICTED:
9:00 a.m.: Legislative Business Five “One Minutes”	10:15 – 10:45 a.m.	10:45 – 11:15 a.m.

Complete Consideration of Concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.Con.Res. 71 – Concurrent Resolution Establishing the Congressional Budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2018 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2019 through 2027 (Rep. Black – Budget) (One hour of debate). In most respects, this latest version of the Republican Budget Resolution is similar to the House budget, cutting vital programs. While the House budget pretended to tackle our fiscal challenges, this budget makes no such effort. The changes made by the Senate Amendment will make it easier for Republicans to use fast track “reconciliation” procedures to add $1.5 trillion to the deficit to jam through tax cuts for the wealthy while leaving the middle class behind.

Democrats and Republicans agree on the need to reform our tax system. Businesses and families alike require certainty and a level playing field. However, what little detail we have on Republicans’ tax framework reveals their effort is only focused on providing a tax cut for those with the very highest incomes. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center (TPC), the top 1 percent – those with incomes over $900,000 – would receive 80 percent of all tax benefits, while one in three middle class taxpayers earning between $50,000 and $150,000 would receive a tax increase. In all, 47 million taxpayers would see their taxes go up while still adding $2.4 trillion to the deficit.

While this Republican Budget claims to lower deficits through trillions of dollars in undisclosed spending cuts and dubious dynamic scoring assumptions, its reconciliation instructions for tax cuts reveal that it is specifically intended to do the opposite. The Republican Budget directs the Committee on Ways and Means to report a bill that adds $1.5 trillion to deficits over the next ten years, whereas the version that passed the House only a few weeks ago provided reconciliation instructions for tax reform that was deficit neutral.

This entire process is a cynical use of the budget process to advance a partisan effort to cut taxes for the wealthy while raising them for millions of middle class Americans. House Republicans are bringing this budget to the Floor more than six months after the statutory deadline and several weeks into the new fiscal year that the budget is supposed to govern. For FY18 appropriations, it maintains the Budget Control Act’s (BCA) sequester-level spending caps for both defense and nondefense, ignoring bipartisan consensus that these caps are inadequate to our funding needs in the current fiscal year and put us one step closer to sequestration in January.

In addition to providing reconciliation instructions for tax cuts, it also instructs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to report legislation that would reduce the deficit by $1 billion, making it easier to approve oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This Republican Budget, like its predecessors, is not a serious effort at budgeting. It is intended solely to get Republicans and President Trump one step closer to what they consider a desperately needed legislative win via deficit-increasing tax cuts after their repeated failures to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Members are urged to VOTE NO on the Senate Amendment to H.Con.Res. 71.

The Rule, which was adopted yesterday, provides for one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Budget.

Postponed Suspension (1 bill)

H.R. 1698 – Iran Ballistic Missiles and International Sanctions Enforcement Act, as amended (Rep. Royce – Foreign Affairs)

THE DAILY QUOTE
“One week before they are set to unveil a sprawling overhaul of the federal tax code, Republicans struggled on Wednesday with key parts of their plan, reigniting a fight over retirement savings and racing to cut a deal with lawmakers from high-tax states ahead of a critical budget vote in the House on Thursday… ‘To me, the only way to stop this is to defeat the budget tomorrow,’ Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, said on Wednesday… ‘They’re asking us to vote on the budget for a tax bill they haven’t shown us on a promise that somehow it’s going to be fair, even though they’re talking about knocking out SALT,’ Mr. King said. ‘I don’t see how anyone from those districts can vote for the budget under that…’” - New York Times, 10/25/2017

THE DAILY QUOTE

“One week before they are set to unveil a sprawling overhaul of the federal tax code, Republicans struggled on Wednesday with key parts of their plan, reigniting a fight over retirement savings and racing to cut a deal with lawmakers from high-tax states ahead of a critical budget vote in the House on Thursday… ‘To me, the only way to stop this is to defeat the budget tomorrow,’ Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, said on Wednesday… ‘They’re asking us to vote on the budget for a tax bill they haven’t shown us on a promise that somehow it’s going to be fair, even though they’re talking about knocking out SALT,’ Mr. King said. ‘I don’t see how anyone from those districts can vote for the budget under that…’”

- New York Times, 10/25/2017