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).
Vice President Mike Pence defended the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 Americans Wednesday night, while his Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris, condemned “the greatest failure of any presidential administration” during a largely civil debate dominated by the coronavirus.
A look at how claims from Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris stack up with the facts.
U.S. Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, joined Cheddar to discuss why he feels Americans should trust in a coronavirus vaccine once it clears the protocols.
Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger, California Sen. Kamala Harris, are set to face off in a debate that will offer starkly different visions for a country confronting escalating crises.
Despite close competition from other pressing issues, the economy is still the top concern for voters, according to a new Cheddar/SurveyUSA poll.
Democratic lawmakers are calling for Congress to rein in Big Tech, possibly forcing Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple to break up their businesses.
Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by 10 points in the 2020 presidential race, according to a new Cheddar/SurveyUSA poll,.
President Donald Trump says he has instructed aides to stop negotiating on another round of COVID-19 relief until after the election.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Tuesday that a tentative recovery from the pandemic recession could falter unless the federal government supplies additional economic support.
The Food and Drug Administration has laid out its safety standards for developers of COVID-19 vaccines after the White House blocked their formal release.
