The government is open! President Trump signed an $854 billion spending package on Friday. That allowed the government to open its doors today, the start of a new fiscal year. The package includes a funding extension to December 7 for the government agencies that don’t yet have an appropriation. President Trump did not get new money for his proposed border wall.
The House passed Tax Reform 2.0 and is out until after the mid-terms. On Friday, by a vote of 220-191, the chamber passed the remaining piece of the Tax Reform 2.0 legislative package—a measure to make permanent the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s individual tax provisions that are due to expire after 2025. Eleven Republican House members from New York, New Jersey and California voted against the bill, while three Democrats voted for it. The House then went into recess, adding two weeks to the already scheduled break. That will give endangered House Republicans more time to campaign.
What about those extenders? Remember all those expiring tax provisions that need extending? House Ways & Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady, who is no fan, said on Friday that maybe the House will take them up in a lame duck session. Brady may try to add some technical corrections to the TCJA as well.
What would President Trump’s proposal to limit visas mean for immigrants who receive certain public benefits? TPC’s Aravind Boddupalli and Kim Rueben consider the president’s latest idea. He’s proposed limiting access to legal permanent residency status (green cards) and other visas for immigrants who use public services such as Medicaid and Food Stamps. Boddupalli and Reuben explain that Trump’s proposal could hurt many immigrant families and the US economy.
British Prime Minister Theresa May wants an extra tax on foreign home buyers. She says it should not be as easy for non-residents to buy homes as “hard working British residents.” The new tax would be levied “on top of all other stamp duty, a tax paid on property purchases, including higher levels of stamp duty introduced in April 2016, on second home and buy-to-let purchases,” reports Voice of America.
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