Back in February, it took an overnight rushed vote for Senate Republicans to get Tom Price confirmed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a reminder, he vacated his House seat representing the northern portion of Atlanta, Georgia which led to the highly publicized special election in which Democrat Jon Ossoff nearly claimed the seat despite it being a Republican stronghold.
Tax "reform" is likely to be the next major Republican agenda item after failing (for now) to take away healthcare from millions of Americans. There will be much to learn and analyze about on this topic as House and Senate bills are written, (potentially) debated, and voted on.
For now, what we have is Trump's tax outline released in April 2017. It benefits the wealthy, harms the middle class, and greatly increases deficit spending. It's difficult to fathom how he and the Republican party get anywhere close to 50% of the vote.
The Budget Cuts Series marches towards to examine the White House proposed budget cuts and learn what's hidden beneath the surface. We will later update based on Congressional budget proposals and actions.
The Interal Revenue Sservice is proposed to suger a $239 million reduced budget, the latest in a series of cuts since 2010 first imposed by the Republican Congress. The IRS is an unsurprising target of Trump who previously complained was treating him unfairly.
Based on a little-known law, any committee that creates tax policy can request any specific person's tax filings from the IRS. Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett (TX-35) led efforts to get the House Ways and Means Committee to make this request for President Trump's tax returns.
By a vote of 23-15, Republicans just voted to not request President Trump's tax returns from the Treasury Department.