GOP seems to think if they work fast, no one will notice how badly they are screwed
By Sarah Okeson
The Republican Senate is poised to try to ram through its version
of the budget for running our country with the potential impact of the bill
publicly known only hours before the vote.
A provision deep in the Senate budget resolution for fiscal 2018
calls for throwing out a
requirement that the Congressional Budget Office score of the legislation be
made public at least 28 hours before a vote.
“They are doing this in order to rush deficit-increasing tax legislation through,” said Ed Lorenzen of the Committee for a
Responsible Federal Budget.
Joe Brenckle, the communications director for the Senate Budget
Committee, said the requirement was “found to be unnecessary.”
The Congressional Budget
Office produces nonpartisan
estimates of the budget costs and other effects of legislation. The CBO reports on
Republican efforts to kill off the Affordable Care Act and take away health
insurance from millions helped doom the legislation, at least for now.
And Republicans are peeved. Some House Republicans have tried to cut the agency’s funding in half or eliminate staffers’
jobs.
“At some point, you’ve got to ask yourself, has the day of the CBO come and gone?” said White House budget director Mick Mulvaney.
The Senate Budget Committee began marking
up—amending and rewriting—the budget resolution Wednesday afternoon and is
scheduled to continue today. The proposed House budget would require a tax
plan that doesn’t add to the deficit.
The secrecy provision is a small part of the Senate budget
resolution that would only need 50 votes, not
the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. The Senate plan would cut taxes as much
as $1.5 trillion over the next decade and hugely favors those with incomes of more than $730,000 a
year. Taxpayers in the bottom 95%
would have tax cuts averaging 1.2%.
The CBO has already cast doubt on the wishful numbers in Trump’s
budget which projected 3% growth and ending the deficit within a decade. The
CBO forecast growth of 1.8% to 1.9%, a $720 billion deficit and
dramatic cuts in social programs.
Action
Box/What You Can Do About It
Let
the Senate know how you feel about this budget proposal. Call the Senate Budget Committee at 202-224-0642; fax to 202-224-4835.
The
chairman is Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). Write to the committee office at 624
Dirksen Senate Office Building / Washington, D.C. 20510 or Enzi’s
office at 379A Senate Russell
Office Building / Washington, D.C. 20510. Here is Enzi’s Twitter page.
Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) is the top opposition member of the committee. You can
contact Sanders at 332 Dirksen Building / Washington, D.C.
20510; 202-224-5141 or fax 202-228-0776.
