News & Views
Here's what we have our eye on today:
- Trump Wants a ‘Phase Two’ of Tax Cuts – CNBC
- Congress Has Until March 23 to Fund the Government. Three Ways This Could Go – Vox
- The First Target on Drug Prices: Pharmacy Benefit Managers – Axios
- No One’s Sure Who Qualifies for This $415 Billion U.S. Tax Deduction – Bloomberg
- Companies Are Putting Tax Savings in the Pockets of Shareholders – CNBC
- Conservative Groups Warn Against Obamacare 'Bailout' in Spending Bill – The Hill
- Trump to Visit Boeing Plant in Missouri to Tout Impact of Tax Overhaul – Reuters
- U.S. DOT Announces TIGER Grants Totaling Nearly $500 Million – Route Fifty
- Are You Underpaid? In a First, U.S. Firms Reveal How Much They Pay Workers – Wall Street Journal
- How Much Do America’s Arms Makers Depend on Foreign Metal? No One Seems to Know – Defense One
- Fox News Launching New Ad Campaign: 'Real News. Real Honest Opinion' – The Hill
- It’s Tax Time! Here’s What to Know This Year – New York Times
VIEWS
- The G.O.P. Accidentally Replaced Obamacare Without Repealing It – Peter Suderman, New York Times
- Red-State Changes Could Strengthen ACA, Medicaid – Drew Altman, Axios
- Social Security Is Headless Because of Trump’s Inaction. Will Other Agencies Be Decapitated? – Joe Davidson, Washington Post
- Britain Has Budget Problems, and the US Can Learn from Them – Tom Rogan, Washington Examiner
- The Rich Are Happier About Their Taxes Than the Poor – Kevin Drum, Mother Jones
- Axing State Corporate Taxes Is Good Policy – Richard F. Keevey, Route Fifty
- Trump's Tariff Move Shows He Flunked Economics – Jeffrey Sachs, CNN
- Without Pressure from the Electorate, Better Infrastructure Will Just Be Talk – Mark Jamison and Jeff Lawrence, RealClear Markets
- Most Small Business Owners Say They Will Not Hire, Give Raises Because of New Tax Law – Frank Knapp, Jr. – The Hill
- Trump Administration Is Helping a Lost Generation of Workers Recover – Scott Jennings, CNN
- I Hate Trump, but I Love These Tariffs – Krystal Ball, The Hill
Greenspan Has a Warning About the GOP Tax Plan

The Republican tax cuts won’t do much for economic growth, former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan told CNBC Wednesday, but they will damage the country’s fiscal situation while creating the threat of stagflation. "This is a terrible fiscal situation we've got ourselves into," Greenspan said. "The administration is doing tax cuts and a spending decrease, but he's doing them in the wrong order. What we need right now is to focus totally on reducing the debt."
The US Economy Hits a Sweet Spot

“The U.S. economy is running at its full potential for the first time in a decade, a new milestone for an expansion now in its ninth year,” The Wall Street Journal reports. But the milestone was reached, in part, because the Congressional Budget Office has, over the last 10 years, downgraded its estimate of the economy’s potential output. “Some economists think more slack remains in the job market than October’s 4.1% unemployment rate would suggest. Also, economic output is still well below its potential level based on estimates produced a decade ago by the CBO.”
The New York Times Drums Up Opposition to the Tax Bill

The New York Times editorial board took to Twitter Wednesday “to urge the Senate to reject a tax bill that hurts the middle class & the nation's fiscal health.”
Using the hashtag #thetaxbillshurts, the NYT Opinion account posted phone numbers for Sens. Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, James Lankford, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Jerry Moran. It urged readers to call the senators and encourage them to oppose the bill.
In an editorial published Tuesday night, the Times wrote that “Republican senators have a choice. They can follow the will of their donors and vote to take money from the middle class and give it to the wealthiest people in the world. Or they can vote no, to protect the public and the financial health of the government.”
Like what you're reading? Sign up for our free newsletter.
Can Trump Succeed Where Mnuchin and Cohn Have Flopped?

President Trump met with members of the Senate Finance Committee Monday and is scheduled to attend Senate Republicans’ weekly policy lunch and make a personal push for the tax plan on Tuesday. Will he be a more effective salesman than surrogates in his administration?
Politico’s Annie Karni and Eliana Johnson report that both Democrats and Republicans say Mnuchin and chief economic adviser Gary Cohn have repeatedly botched their tax pitches, “in part due to their own backgrounds” as wealthy Goldman Sachs alums. “House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this month asked the White House not to send Mnuchin to the Hill to talk with Republican lawmakers about the bill, according to two people familiar with the discussions — though Ryan has praised the Treasury secretary’s ability to improve the legislation itself,” Karni and Johnson write.
Trump: Repeal the Obamacare Mandate to Cut the Top Tax Rate

President Trump repeated his call Monday to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate as part of the tax bill. In a tweet — geotagged from Pennsylvania, not the Philippines , where Trump currently is — Trump added that the billions in savings from ending the mandate should be used to cut the top marginal rate to 35 percent and the rest on cuts for the middle class.
The Congressional Budget Office said last week that eliminating the mandate would save $338 billion over the next decade.
The current version of the House tax bill keeps the top individual income tax rate at 39.6 percent, while the Senate bill lowers it to 38.5 percent. However, mandate repeal is not currently part of either tax bill, and, as The New York Times notes, “repeal of the individual mandate was not on the list of 355 amendments that the [Senate Finance Committee] released on Sunday night.”