Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA): Dems Are Only Against "Stupid" Tax Reforms
President Trump signed stopgap legislation on Friday to avoid a government shutdown, keeping federal agencies open until December 22nd. That gives Congress two more weeks to pass a complete spending bill, or run out of money. Cheddar caught up with Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA), to talk about some of the biggest political issues on the Hill right now, from GOP tax reform to a potential presidential impeachment.
Both the House and the Senate have passed bills in the last month in support of the Republican Tax plan, which will raise the national debt by $1.3 trillion. Democrats have openly criticized the bill, and opted to vote against it. But, Lieu says that he and his colleagues are not against tax reforms in general, just against “stupid tax reforms.”
“The current GOP proposal raises taxes for millions of middle class families, it blows a hole to our deficit and federal debt because a lot of it is not paid for,” he said, “and most of the benefits flow to the wealthy and corporations. That’s not what America needs right now.”
Many wealthy Americans live in the Los Angeles 33 district, which Lieu represents, but the congressman told Cheddar that his constituents are “actually pretty smart” and understand that trickle-down economics does not work.
Lieu, who’s also a member of the House Judiciary Committee, voted in favor of impeachment articles introduced by Rep. Al Green (D-TX) Thursday. The articles did not pass, but there were 58 votes in favor. Some Democrats, such as House Leader Nancy Pelosi, are not advocating impeachment proceedings, and others argue that impeachment proceedings could interfere with the ongoing Robert Mueller investigations. Lieu says he agrees with both sentiments, but that impeachment hearings take a long time.
“I sit in the House Judiciary Committee, if there were impeachment proceedings, that’s where it will start,” he said. “We are watching the President of the United States commit obstruction of justice in plain view, and we need to have discussions about it.”
Lieu added that Mueller’s investigation became a “game changer” when he only charged former presidential advisor Mike Flynn with lying to the FBI.
“I’m a former prosecutor and you don’t do a plea deal like that when you only charge one count, when you could’ve charged many,” he said. “He did that deal to go after people above Michael Flynn, there’s only a handful of those.”
Student loan collection company Navient agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in debt and paid more than $140 million in other penalties to settle a lawsuit over abusive lending practices. Josh Shapiro, the attorney general of Pennsylvania who led negotiations in the settlement, joined Cheddar to go over the details of the company's predatory lending. "What Navient would do is charge [borrowers] these exorbitantly high rates, even though they knew people couldn't pay them or they would likely default on them," he explained.
The January 6 committee has subpoenaed four tech giants for more information on what they did and didn't do leading up to last year's deadly Capitol insurrection. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit were asked to assist the investigation in August, but the committee says their responses have been 'inadequate.' Craig Timberg, a national technology reporter at the Washington Post, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell for more details about the subpoenas, why this is happening now, and how it might impact social media companies moving forward.
With the Australian Open set to begin on Monday, Novak Djokovic is once again being threatened with deportation from Australia after his visa was briefly reinstated and revoked again over alleged discrepancies. Djokovic’s team will sit for an Immigration hearing on Saturday.
Makena Kelly, politics reporter at The Verge, joins Cheddar News to discuss what's next for net neutrality as Biden's other nominee for the FCC, Gigi Sohn, awaits votes from the committee and Senate.
Jewell Jackson McCabe, chair of the Keep Love Alive Campaign and founder of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and Marvin Owens, chief engagement officer of Impact Shares and former senior director of Economic Development at the NAACP, join Cheddar News to reflect on racial issues still prevalent in America.
Hagar Chemali, Host of 'Oh My World' on Youtube and Former Spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the UN, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to share her expert insight into what the future of diplomacy could look like as the Russia-Ukraine crisis deepens.
Markets opened higher on the first trading day of the new year as investors continue to watch inflation and the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the U.S. Frances Newton Stacy, Optimal Capital Dir. of Strategy/Market Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Markets opened lower this morning as investors rounded out a wild 2021. Jay Hatfield, CEO Infrastructure Capital Advisors, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss which sectors and industries to watch in the new year.
Markets opened higher as investors react to positive data on the labor front, with weekly jobless claims falling to 198,000 for the week ending December 25. Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the market open.
