Republicans celebrated their first legislative win of the year Wednesday, after both houses of Congress passed a sweeping tax reform package.
But one Democratic congresswoman told Cheddar there’s still hope for constituents who remain opposed to the bill.
“Stay mobilized, let your voice be heard,” Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) said Wednesday morning, after the Senate voted, but before the House reconvened. “Nothing is permanent but death and taxes, and we can do something about these taxes and we can do something about the makeup of this Congress.”
The president and his party leaders gathered Wednesday afternoon to praise the benefits of the tax system overhaul, which drops the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent, nearly doubles the standard deduction for individuals, and lowers the tax rate for most income brackets.
While the GOP says the long-overdue changes will provide a boost to the economy, Democrats dispute that claim and say the bill will largely benefit the wealthiest Americans and balloon the deficit.
The bill does appear to be broadly unpopular. A recent CNN poll found that 55 percent of respondents opposed the legislation, a 10 percentage point increase since last month. Still, it passed the House by a vote of 224-201 Wednesday afternoon, with only 12 Republican naysayers.
Republicans also took to Twitter to cheer the victory. President Donald Trump posted a gif that read “Tax Cut for Christmas”.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/rep-bonnie-watson-coleman-d-nj-says-voters-can-change-the-makeup-of-congress-in-2018).
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to 770,000, a sign that layoffs remain high even as much of the U.S. economy is steadily recovering from the coronavirus recession.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell once again doubled down on the easy money policies that have defined the central bank's response to the pandemic-fueled economic downturn.
Stop AAPI Hate co-founder Cynthia Choi joined Cheddar to discuss anti-Asian hate crime reporting and what Americans can do to combat incidents of racial discrimination against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.
With COVID cases rising in many places, governments are facing the dilemma to push on with a vaccine that is known to save lives or suspend use of AstraZeneca over reports of dangerous blood clots in a few recipients.
The police break up of a weekend vigil for a young murder victim abducted in London has touched off a national debate in Britain.
As a worldwide semiconductor shortage hammers American industries, trade groups are reaching out to the Biden administration with pleas to boost production in the U.S.
Microsoft President Brad Smith will testify before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Friday.
The Vatican has decreed that the Catholic Church won't bless same-sex unions, saying that God “cannot bless sin.”
More than a dozen congressional Democrats from New York, as well as both senators, put out statements in what appeared to be a coordinated release Friday morning, calling on the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, to resign.
What is up next for the Biden administration now that it has clocked its first major legislative win? This is your Washington Week Ahead.
