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).
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, March 2, 2020.
Democrat Pete Buttigieg is ending his campaign for president, the Associated Press is reporting.
Joe Biden scored a convincing victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Saturday, riding a wave of African American support and ending progressive rival Bernie Sanders’ winning streak.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Stocks sank again after another wild day, extending a rout that left the market with its worst week since October 2008. Major indexes clawed back much of their intraday losses in the last 15 minutes. Bond prices soared as investors sought safety, pushing yields to record lows.
The World Health Organization raised its threat assessment Friday saying the global risk of the novel COVID-19 is now "very high," the director-general told reporters, even as the White House continues to downplay the potential impact of the coronavirus in the U.S.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pledged that the Fed will "use our tools" to support the economy, a strong signal of a likely rate cut, perhaps at its next meeting March 17-18.
The report from China Beige Book, an economic forecasting firm that surveyed more than 1,400 companies, shows an economy reeling from shutdowns and quarantines.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, February 28, 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank nearly 1,200 points Thursday, deepening a weeklong global market rout caused by worries that the coronavirus outbreak will wreak havoc on the global economy.
