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.”
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri faced a bipartisan Congressional grilling this week as the Senate inquired about safety practices for protecting the mental wellbeing of young people on the platform. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) joined Cheddar to talk about the hearing and how she was disappointed in Instagram coming unprepared with relevant information or documents. Blackburn also offered concern that the platform could continue with building a kids-only version despite having drawn significant opposition from the public.
The Great Resignation has shown some signs of slowing in October with the number of those who quit their jobs falling by 4.7 percent to 4.16 million. This comes as worker strikes and calls for unionization ramp up. Jane Oates, president at WorkingNation joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to discuss the implications.
U.S. markets opened lower despite positive jobs data, which saw weekly claims drop to a 52-year low. Kevin Nicholson, Co-CIO Global Fixed Income, RiverFront Investment Group joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the labor market, inflation, and the impact of the Omicron variant on global markets.
A packed Thursday pod: Carlo and Baker cover the latest developments in the Ghislaine Maxwell, Jussie Smollett and Elizabeth Holmes trials. Plus, Dems are losing the Hispanic vote, Boris Johnson in trouble again, and is it possible that Adele has peaked?
Jim Bruderman, Vice Chairman at 1879 Advisors, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says investors experienced a 'panic attack' last week with the spread of the Omicron variant and the Fed's tapering plans. As a result, he says we're now seeing stocks climb due to a growing comfort level toward both developments.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, faced withering questions on Capitol Hill about the reports the social media app was aware of the severe mental health impacts it was having on teenage girls. Karen Kornbluh, the director of digital innovation and democracy for the German Marshall Fund, joined Cheddar to discuss the rare show of bipartisan outrage on display at the Senate hearing. "The senators came really loaded for bear on both sides of the aisle," she said. Kornbluh explained how senators like Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) set up fake Instagram accounts with teen girl profiles in order to research the effects firsthand.
The Biden administration will not send an official U.S. delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing as a statement against China's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang." Weifeng Zhong, senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, joins Cheddar News to discuss the boycott.
