Congress
Senate Democratic moderates say they want to work with GOP on tax cuts
A group of eleven moderate Senate Democrats say they want to work with Republicans on addressing the GOP’s expiring tax cuts and raising the debt ceiling.
In a new letter to Republicanleaders, they say they are willing to cut spending, protect family-oriented tax policies, have “competitive” rates on businesses — and that they can provide enough votes to allow Republicans to overcome a filibuster in the Senate without having to resort to so-called reconciliation.
The lawmakers say they’re otherwise worried Republicans will tack the $4 trillion cost of extending their tax cuts onto the deficit, which will increase interest rates for everyone, something nonpartisan budget forecasters have recently warned about.
“We understand that the Senate Republican conference is likely to use the budget reconciliation process to address these expirations,” said the letter, put together by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Mark Warner (Va.), both of whom sit on the tax committee. “While we respect the majority’s right to do so under Senate rules, we believe a better outcome can be achieved by working in a bipartisan manner to reform the tax code and address our growing national debt through responsible spending reforms.”
“We believe a fully deficit-financed, partisan effort could risk raising costs for families, driving up interest rates for Americans looking to purchase a home, and increasing borrowing costs for American businesses and consumers.”
Republicans appear unlikely to take them up on the offer, though it presents a potential answer to many of the jams they now face.
The GOP is deeply divided over the cost of renewing their tax cuts, not to mention scads of individual provisions like the $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions, and are sure to have a difficult time raising the debt limit. Some have never voted to increase the legal cap on government borrowing.
Republicans have struggled to even agree on scheduling, with weeks of debate over whether they should take up immigration first or combine it with their tax plans.
Tax debates are typically highly contentious, but there was a surprising outbreak of bipartisanship last year when House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and then-Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) agreed on a plan to expand breaks for parents and businesses. It was overwhelmingly approved by the House before later dying in the Senate.
No Democrats voted for Republicans’ original 2017 tax cuts, much of which are now due to expire at the end of this year. Rolling them over is projected to cost some $400 billion per year, and the price tag has become a major issue given the government is already running $2 trillion deficits.
The prospect of a bipartisan tax plan would raise a whole different set of challenges though, with the two sides likely to clash over issues like how much to charge businesses and high earners. The moderates signing the letter would also likely take heat from fellow Democrats who are opposed to the tax cuts and would be happy to see them expire.
The lawmakers said they can work with Republicans on business-related provisions.
“Good faith negotiations can ensure the permanence of a competitive tax code for American businesses with reasonable effective tax rates and competitive treatment of capital and R&D expenses, as well as a rational international tax regime,” they wrote.
“While there will certainly be challenges to finding bipartisan agreement on certain issues, we believe addressing the growing deficit and reducing unnecessary spending can serve as a basis for good faith bipartisan negotiation.”
The letter was also signed by Sens. Raphael Warnock (Ga.), Tim Kaine (Va.), John Hickenlooper (Colo.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Jon Ossoff (Ga.).
A bipartisan House effort is afoot to kill the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund created by the Justice Department that could pay allies of President Donald Trump, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the effort ahead of a formal announcement.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) have drafted text and are taking steps to unveil the legislation soon, the people said.
Speaker Mike Johnson raised the level of urgency to block the fund among some congressional skeptics when he refused to say Wednesday whether violent Jan. 6 convicts should have access to the taxpayer money.
Fitzpatrick said in an interview Wednesday he’s waiting to hear back from the Justice Dpartment regarding a list of questions he sent Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seeking more information about who will be able to access the fund, which was created pursuant to a settlement between Trump and the IRS.
Fitzpatrick said his constituents and others “don’t want a DOJ slush fund that has not been described or explained to anybody.”
Blanche is meeting with GOP senators Thursday morning, some of whom are want to curtail or block the fund through the immigration enforcement package Senate Republicans are planning to advance today.
Johnson would be unlikely to bring the Fitzpatrick-Suozzi legislation to the House floor, but Fitzpatrick has been involved in multiple efforts this Congress to use discharge petitions to pass bipartisan bills over GOP leaders’ objections.
Sarah Kellen, a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, told congressional investigators Thursday she was “sexually and psychologically abused” by the convicted sex offender, according to a copy of her prepared opening statement.
Kellen — who is sitting for a closed-door, transcribed interview with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of its investigation into the late, disgraced financier — has presented a quandary for lawmakers as to whether she should be regarded as victim or an accomplice to Epstein in carrying out his crimes.
Speaking with reporters before the start of the interview, House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he suspected it would be the hardest conversation with a witness to date.
“I know how the Department of Justice viewed her. I don’t know how the Oversight Committee will view her,” Comer said. “Obviously she’s presumed innocent, she’s going to have due process, and I appreciate her being here today.”
He noted, “We have a lot of questions about everything from the day-to-day activities to what she saw and what she knows.”
According to the prepared remarks, Kellen described details of the abuse that she endured at the hands of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the only convicted co-conspirator in the Epstein case who is now serving 20 years in prison for her part in the sex trafficking scheme.
“Jeffrey made certain I knew that defying him would cost me my life,” Kellen said, per the pre-written opening statement. “I was a silent body in a chair beside men who started and ended wars.”
Kellen was one of four women viewed as possible co-conspirators as part of the 2008 non-prosecution agreement many have argued allowed Epstein to continue to prey on young women and girls for years. Kellen, who was ultimately never prosecuted or charged, described the government’s scrutiny of her as a total blindside.
“The federal government of the United States branded me a criminal in a secret deal with my own abuser, without ever once speaking to me,” she said in her prepared remarks.
Kellen also recounted to the Oversight panel that she was raised in a “religious cult” and married at the age of 17. After her divorce, she was excommunicated from her community. A man said he would introduce her to Epstein under the auspices that he was a “scout for Victoria’s Secret.” She later got a job as Epstein’s assistant and said he only paid her once the sexual abuse began.
“I have read articles online labeling me as Ghislaine’s Lieutenant; that is a gross misrepresentation,” she said, according to the prepared statement. “I was a literal indentured slave; in fact, she even referred to me as her slave and minion.”
Erica Orden contributed to this report.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will meet with a group of Senate Republicans today at 11 a.m., a person familiar with the planning said.
The meeting comes as Republicans try to finalize their reconciliation bill and address concerns from members about the Justice Department’s new “anti-weaponization” fund.
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