Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD): House and Senate tax reform bills are “rotten”
The bipartisan battles on Capitol Hill are heating up as the end of the year approaches, and Congress must agree on a budget bill to avoid a government shutdown. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told Cheddar on Tuesday that a shutdown would be “a big mistake.”
“While there are, of course, many differences on this,” he said, “we need to find a way to bridge them in order to keep the government going.”
The congressman noted that there are plenty of pressing issues that need to be addressed by the end of the year, including the Republican Tax Plan, and the DREAM Act. Van Hollen says that DACA should be at the top of the list, and criticizes the Republicans for pushing the tax bill through so quickly.
The bill was first introduced to the House in early November, and passed the Senate within a month, with a tally of 51-49 votes. The next step is for a committee to reconcile the differences between both bills before it reaches President Donald Trump’s desk. Many critics argue that the bill favors the rich, and will be a burden for the middle class in the long run. Meanwhile, some Republicans contend that the tax will encourage corporations to bring business home, and offer greater tax relief.
Van Hollen agrees with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi that the bills should be scrapped. He argues that both tax bills introduced to Congress, which would increased the national deficit by $1.3 trillion, are “rotten.” Beyond increasing debt, Van Hollen says that by 2019, the bill will make foreign stockholders $31 billion richer, at the cost of the middle class. The congressman says the reason is that over one-third of stocks held in U.S. corporations are owned by foreign stockholders.
“In that same, year those Americans that are going to be paying more in taxes are going to contribute about $29 billion,” he said. “Take it from the pocket of a middle class American family, transfer it to foreign stockholders.”
President Biden and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell meet at the White House today for the first time since Powell's renomination to the position. The President and the Fed Chair discussed the economy and historically high inflation, as new data shows inflation may be cooling slightly. Morning Consult economic analyst Jesse Wheeler joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss how the Biden administration at the U.S. central bank can work together to combat soaring prices for American consumers.
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With the baby formula in the United States surging to an out-of-stock rate of 70 percent, the FDA has given Abbott permission to reopen its Michigan plant amid the crisis and authorized foreign imports. Professor Peter Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner and current president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, joined Cheddar News to discuss the ongoing shortage and its wide impact. “As difficult as things is in urban areas, they’re even worse in small communities and tribal areas where parents can't just go to the next store on the corner," he said. Pitts also noted that the Abbott factory was a "disaster" prior to its shutdown and that it would have been "regulatory malpractice" to have left it open.
Cheddar's Megan Pratz reports from the ground in Uvalde, Texas where the community's grief and frustration with lawmakers and police officers grows as more details emerge.
