Thursday 11/2
1. GOP tax bill
Wednesday’s CTA had a lot of detail and information about this horrendous plan, which is . Some of this is going to repeat.
“The plan’s biggest challenge was a proposed elimination of a deduction for state and local tax (SALT) payments, which is among several revenue-raising changes meant to offset proposed tax cuts.”
“Another contentious revenue-raising proposal in the plan is to limit how much money Americans can put into their 401(k) retirement accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) on a pre-tax basis.
There was also a proposal to limit the deductibility of interest payments by businesses. Restrictions are opposed by businesses with little access to equity financing, including farmers, ranchers and small businesses.” Rumor has it that there will be an ACA repeal hidden in this bill. We need to keep our eyes out for that.
2. Judicial nominations
There is a big push to stack the courts with radical judges. Even though Trump’s legislative agenda has stalled, there has been a steady stream of wins for lifetime appointments to fill these federal court vacancies. The nominees have almost all been male, excluding people of color and women from government positions. We must continue to urge our Senators to oppose judicial nominations. I’ve copied the nominees that D.H. had posted on Monday.
Joan Larsen -- nominated to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals -- was on Trump’s infamous list of 21 potential Supreme Court nominees, prepared for him by far-right groups the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. Larsen is probably favored by Trump because she would allow immense presidential authority to disobey the law -- she defended George W. Bush’s abuse of signing statements as “the president’s independent vision of what the Constitution requires” and approvingly wrote that “if the circumstances arose in which the law would prevent [the president] from protecting the nation, he would choose the nation over the statute.”
Amy Coney Barrett -- nominated to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals -- has written that courts should be freer to overrule precedent they disagree with (Roe v. Wade, anyone?) and co-authored an article in which she acknowledged that her personal views could prevent her from carrying out her responsibilities as a judge. Yet, at her Judiciary Committee hearing, she said she couldn’t think of an instance in which this conflict would warrant her recusal from a case!
Allison Eid -- nominated to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals -- is also on Trump’s SCOTUS list. Her writings suggest an extreme view of federalism and hostility to the New Deal; she dissented in a State Supreme Court case and would have upheld a voucher program that the majority recognized as violating the Establishment Clause; in another dissent she distorted the plain meaning of a statute to side with a conservative candidate in a nonpartisan school board election.
Stephanos Bibas -- nominated to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals -- once wrote in favor of replacing much of the prison system with corporal punishment including stress positions, electric shocks, and putting offenders in stocks to be pelted with food by bystanders and victims.
Don’t forget about CHIP, ACA enrollment, gun control. There is so much to take in and to talk to our MoC about.
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/
Governor Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/
Congressional District 2 residents: Check out this website for information about groups and events in your area. mn02progressiveactionnetwork.com
No comments:
Post a Comment