[MadWorldNews] On Monday, the Senate voted 81-18 to break a Democratic filibuster on a stalled government spending bill, clearing the way for Congress to approve the stopgap measure and end the three-day government shutdown. It was a rough day for Democrats, who essentially caved on DACA after insisting, just a few days prior, on legislation that would protect illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children. This was the first blow, but not the last, as "Shutdown Schumer" soon found the big "surprise" hidden in the bill the Senate passed on Monday.Not only did the Democrats cave on DACA on Monday, but they inadvertently passed even more tax cuts, which were included in the Senate bill which ended the government shutdown, according to a New York Times report headlined, "There’s a Surprise in the Government Funding Bill: More Tax Cuts."
After hemming and hawing over the tax cuts President Trump implemented last month ahead of the Christmas holiday, Democrats were furious to find out that the president and the GOP had snuck even more tax breaks for Americans into the Senate bill they passed on Monday.
Congress is apparently not done cutting taxes, even after passing a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul last year.
The deal struck by Democrats and Republicans on Monday to end a brief government shutdown contains $31 billion in tax cuts, including a temporary delay in implementing three health care-related taxes.
Those delays, which enjoy varying degrees of bipartisan support, are not offset by any spending cuts or tax increases, and thus will add to a federal budget deficit that is already projected to increase rapidly as last year’s mammoth new tax law takes effect.
The Congressional Budget Office said this month that the federal budget deficit reached $228 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year, $18 billion more than the deficit in the first quarter of fiscal 2017, despite strong economic growth. And that was before the tax cuts kicked in. [Source: The New York Times]
To add insult to injury, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was forced to eat his words after telling reporters over the weekend that President Donald Trump did not live up to his reputation as a world-class deal maker. As it turns out, Trump completely outdueled Schumer and his Democratic cronies on this one.
During the hours leading up to the government shutdown, President Donald Trump invited Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to the White House to negotiate the outline of a deal, which both sides believed was in reach. After several more conversations during the day, the deal fell apart and the Senate failed to pass a measure to keep the government funded.
"During the meeting, in exchange for strong [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] protections, I reluctantly put the border wall on the table for the discussion," Schumer said from the Senate floor. "Even that was not enough to entice the president to finish the deal." [Source: ABC News]
Perhaps if Chuck Schumer had been less preoccupied with trashing Trump and more concerned with actually knowing the legislation he was about to vote on, he would not have made such an embarrassing mistake.