Senate Democrats welcome Biden ‘signal’ on nixing filibuster if Republicans obstruct.
Sanders rolls out nearly $3 trillion in tax increase proposals.
Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders unveiled proposals to raise taxes by at least $2.8 trillion in a pair of bills he introduced Thursday that the Vermont independent said would “end our rigged tax code” and reduce income inequality by making corporations and billionaires pay more.
“We can no longer tolerate many large corporations making billions of dollars a year in profits to pay nothing, zero, in federal income taxes,” Sanders said at a Thursday hearing that coincided with the release of his double-barreled package aimed at mega-corporations and large estates.
One draft bill would raise at least $1.3 trillion over a decade by setting the corporate tax rate back at 35 percent, where it was before the 2017 GOP tax overhaul dropped it down to 21 percent. The measure would also generate $1.02 trillion over 10 years by changing the way multinationals are taxed, according to an analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation. The draft estate tax bill would raise $430 billion during that time frame.
FEC: Lawmakers may use campaign money for ‘bona fide’ bodyguards.
After a three-hour debate, members of the Federal Election Commission approved, by a 5-1 vote, an advisory opinion Thursday allowing lawmakers to use campaign funds to pay for security expenses to protect themselves and their immediate families. But it likely won’t be the last word from the agency, as it also set in motion a rule-making process on the matter.
The decision Thursday was in response to a request from the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which had asked the FEC, amid increasing threats and after a violent assault on the Capitol, to determine whether hiring personal bodyguards constituted an appropriate use of political money.
But the issue took a controversial and partisan turn, as commissioners debated language to define what types of security personnel would be appropriate after Democratic House and Senate campaign arms raised concerns Wednesday. Democratic election lawyer Mark Elias wrote that the FEC needed to specify that only “bona fide” guards could be reimbursed, or it could open “the door to the improper use of campaign funds to compensate fringe militia groups under the guise of a legitimate security expense.”
