West Wing, Best Wing

Last week, as many of you know, Senate Republicans voted for a major tax overhaul, working overtime to cut corporate taxes while raising taxes on thousands of middle class families. The corporate tax rate would be cut from 35% to 20% and the personal deduction would be eliminated. And even though they are doubling the standard deduction, the elimination of the personal deduction means that many families would end up paying extra.

That wasn't the only thing in the Senate bill. The bill removed the individual mandate and raised the threshold for the estate tax. The last one is good news for all those poor families who stand to inherit between $6.5 million and $11 million. Now people who will inherit only $10 million dollars won't have to pay those predatory taxes.

As others have observed, keeping up with political commentary in the Age of Trump is a challenge. I work on blog posts, only to have their relevance wiped out before I finish my edits. Some weeks, nuanced political happenings are overshadowed by tweets that carry no actual policy directives. Sometimes, the President brings us to the brink of a possible nuclear war. It's hard to figure out what line to walk.

But I started this blog primarily to explain Congress, and that's what I will continue to do, even if this may be our last week on earth. Since the healthcare bill failed spectacularly only several weeks ago, President Trump has expressed frustration with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and the Majority Leader's inability to bring key legislation to his desk.

One Last Chance

Unhappy Families