Congress will be in their favorite status next week, recess, a.k.a. vacation. After 85 days of President Donald Trump’s administration both Trump and the Republican controlled Congress are desperate to accomplish something.
Clearly their preference was to first pass a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare and then tackle tax reform. But intra-party wrangling over the GOP’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) prevented them from even taking a vote on this legislation. So what does that mean for tax reform?
Republicans want to pass both the AHCA and tax reform under a budget procedure in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) called reconciliation. This procedure limits debate on reconciliation legislation to 20 hours and avoids a filibuster by Democrats. But it has some drawbacks too. Due to a section of the CBA called the Byrd Rule, reconciliation legislation must not increase deficits beyond 10 years and it must not contain “extraneous” provisions that do not affect federal spending or revenues.
The AHCA would not repeal and replace Obamacare; it would simply amend it. The Obamacare requirements that insurers cover people with preexisting conditions and that health care policies include coverage for certain basic health care benefits, among other provisions, do not affect federal spending or revenues. Therefore any attempt by the AHCA to repeal those Obamacare requirements in a reconciliation bill would be invalid extraneous provisions. That is why Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and others called the AHCA “Obamacare lite.” And that’s why the Freedom Caucus would not support the legislation. These Republicans wanted to eliminate virtually all the most popular benefits of Obamacare.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) wants to enact a revenue neutral tax reform plan that eliminates the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax and lowers rates for the wealthy. Revenue neutral means the plan will collect the same amount of revenue as projected under current law and will not increase the deficits. This is important because in order for Republicans to use the reconciliation procedure to pass permanent tax reform the CBA requires that the legislation not increase the deficit beyond 10 years. If it does, it must expire in 10 years like President George W. Bush’s tax cuts. Ryan wants his tax reform to be permanent.
Repealing and replacing Obamacare with the AHCA before moving on to tax reform accomplishes two things for Republicans. The AHCA would eliminate most of the Obamacare taxes and reduce revenues over the next 10 years by around $1 trillion. And because the AHCA reduces spending by $1.15 trillion over that same period the revenue loses would be more than offset so currently projected deficits would be reduced by $150 billion. Both of these results facilitate Ryan’s budget plans and his tax plan.
First, any time Republicans can claim to reduce budget deficits, they are thrilled. But the AHCA would not only reduce deficits, it would cut $880 billion in Medicaid funding and virtually eliminate that program as an entitlement. Make no mistake, Republicans are eager to wage all-out war on entitlements, including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
Second, reducing currently projected revenues by $1 trillion would mean Ryan’s tax plan does not have to collect as much revenue to be revenue neutral. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects revenues of $42 trillion for fiscal years 2017 through 2026 under current law, which includes Obamacare taxes. Ryan would much prefer to structure his tax plan to collect $41 trillion to be revenue neutral. That enables him to give an even bigger tax cut to the wealthy.
Ryan also wants to include a border adjustment tax in his plan. This tax would increase revenues by around $1 trillion over 10 years, which would also allow Ryan more flexibility to cut taxes. Unfortunately for Ryan there are powerful lobbies like Walmart and other importers that are strongly opposed to this tax and I am not sure the White House supports it either.
Well, Republicans may make another attempt to pass a revised AHCA before the end of the recess or shortly thereafter and Trump seems to be in agreement. But they may attempt to combine a revised AHCA and tax reform in a single reconciliation bill. Or they may attempt reconciliation legislation with just tax reform and abandon health care reform. Frankly, I don’t think they know what to do.
We probably won’t know what Republicans will try to salvage Trump’s first 100 days until they come back from recess and reconvene on April 25. But immediately they must pass legislation to fund the government for the remainder of FY 2017 or cause a partial government shutdown on April 29.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the government shut down on Trump’s 100th day in office? And wouldn’t that be apropos based on what he has accomplished since he was inaugurated?
From the Center 
How did 100 days become a standard evaluation period for presidential performance? If I’m not wrong, the first 100-day evaluation period was Napoleon Bonapart’s period after his escape from exile on the Island of Elba. The first presidential 100-day evaluation period was FDR’s in 1933 — most of the legislation passed during that period was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. John Kennedy’s 100-day probation period was marred by the Bay of Pigs. It’s very hard to think of a 100-day evaluation period marked by success. It might be wise to discontinue 100 days a grading period.
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100 days is a media conjured yard stick to set viewer/reader expectations. It certainly has no binding influence other than what the networks want it to have.The issue for us is Trump is completely ignorant about all public issues such that he can only sign executive orders handed him by his handlers and lackeys. Actually working with Congress to develop legislative proposals which will pass the “smell” test and actually get voted into law comprise a set of mysteries Trump can only dream about. Remember, this Administration is “the gang who can’t shoot straight” trying to run the executive branch. Its a bit scary when you comprehend how the nut jobs in North Korea may be tempted to challenge Trump on military issues there. The better news is that Trump seems to be learning a bit. He has sidelined Bannon and a few others who were the sources of some of his delusional ideas about wire tapping Trump Towers, the size of the inaugural crowd, etc. We can only hope those staffers who are trying to give him a public issue/governmental fast course can do so before anything serious takes place. Bombing Syrian airfields with cruise missiles is not that serious despite what the 24 hour news cycle hyper types are saying. Bombing N. Korea would be serious.
The Republicans never had an alternative to ObamaCare and they still don’t. Their adherence to Right Wing ideology as guiding principles leads them to ideas which the American people will not stomach and cannot afford. Republicans still think they can fool the voters about their true intentions. Their true intentions are to cut social spending and give the resulting savings to their wealthy friends and campaign contributors. In fact, nobody thought Trump would beat Hillary so the Republican Party leadership has never formulated a consensus strategy on any major issues.
The Republicans still think the insurance companies need to be coddled to pass health care. Not so. All the Congress needs to do is provide all Americans with the same health care program the Congress enjoys. Or the Health Insurance program mentioned here in “From the Center” which serves all Federal employees. Of course, this would require Republicans to actually CARE about their constituents and the reality of living with stagnant wages, constantly rising prices, student loans, constantly rising local/state taxes, etc.
Summary:
Health care has long since grown too expensive for ordinary Americans to afford. One major illness and bankruptcy is ahead.
Insurance companies add nothing to providing health care except excessive profit, excessive complexity, constantly moving requirements for deductibles, co-pays, exclusions, eligibility, etc.
The major health care players like doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies should be the target for price limitations. Without this focus on COST CONTROL, any health care plan will fail because too many people will not be able to afford it.
TAX REFORM
The only goal here should be simplification, i.e., SIMPLIFICATION! Reduce the number of tax brackets from 6 or 7 down to three(10, 15 and 25%). ALL deductions eliminated except mortgage interest and charitable contributions. (Even mortgage interest could be eliminated at a time when most mortgage loans carry a very low rate these days). Lets aim for the legendary “one page” tax return.
Special repatriation policy to encourage companies to bring back their profits from overseas banks. As an alternative, corporate taxes would be based on corporate revenues generated within the US or by US based companies regardless of where they are headquartered. Any public or private corporation listed on any stock exchange anywhere in the world would be included. In return, the Corporate tax rate could fall to 15%. You get the idea. I
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