“Not Dead Yet” when it comes to tax reform on Capitol Hill, as Stephen Moore writes in the WSJ. Charles Krauthammer takes 60 Minutes to task. And, Congressman Steve Daines (R-MT) says he is open to discussing the wilderness bill offered by Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).
Wall Street Journal: Tax Reform, Not Dead Yet
Don’t give up on tax reform just yet. House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp of Michigan hasn’t. He says he’s “moving the ball down the field” on tax reform this year despite the Democrats’ lack of interest in revenue neutral reforms.
When I interviewed Mr. Camp last summer on this issue, the possibility of a Republican in the White House had him more upbeat about the prospects of tax reform. Still, Mr. Camp says that it could become a bigger issue if the economy doesn’t improve. “Reform,” he says, “could create one million jobs.” To get anything written into law, he will need the cooperation of his Senate counterpart, Democratic Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. “He is someone I can work with,” Mr. Camp offers hopefully. “We meet and talk regularly.”
Daily Caller: Goldberg, Krauthammer address ‘grotesque’ recent media coverage of Obama [VIDEO]
Here’s what they said as they took 60 Minutes to task for softball interview with Obama, Clinton:
“I love to hear the president whine of Fox News and talk radio,” Krauthammer said. “I think we ought to be proud of the fact that we annoy him so much. If you look at the lineup on one side, the liberal media, you start with ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, the elite newspapers, the one remaining news magazine, the universities, Hollywood — it doesn’t stop anywhere. On the other side: talk radio and Fox News. They can’t stand the fact that they no longer have a monopoly.”
“So, I think it ought to be taken as a compliment,” he continued. “And you know, what I have always said about Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdock: Their genius was understanding and locating a niche audience in broadcast cable news, which is half the American people — the half that suffered for decades by the fact [that] you get news presented from a single perspective over and over again.
As Lee Newspapers’ note, Congressman Steve Daines used his address before the Montana Legislature to hammer home the “no budget, no pay” bill in the US House.
New U.S. Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., drew loud bipartisan applause from a joint legislative session on Monday when he said members of Congress shouldn’t get paid until they pass a federal budget.
It’s common sense,” he said. “If you don’t do your job, you don’t get paid.”
Loud, bi-partisan applause? That’s good to hear from the Legislature. Senator Tester (D-MT) appeared to get slightly offended by Daines’ support for “No Budget, No Pay,” firing off this press release shortly after the Daines’ office announced his support.
Tester may have been comforted, though, when the AP noted that Daines is open to discussing Tester’s wilderness bill.
Daines, a Republican, delivered a speech to the state Legislature in which he also called on both sides in Washington, D.C., to put politics aside and fix problems.
He also said he is considering whether to support Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s compromise plan to expand logging and wilderness area in the state.
Of course, we could add one caveat to that discussion. I’m sure many folks would open to considering the wilderness bill, if it had the support of the representatives from the communities directly impacted by the bill (i.e. Libby).
Earlier in the Day, Daines attended a school choice rally in Helena with other advocates of tax credits for private and fath-based schools, as The Missoulian reports:
But they ran into a united front of opposition from Montana’s public school community and Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, who said the measures essentially take public funds away from public schools and likely are unconstitutional.
Ferro spoke against House Bill 213, which would enact tax credits of up to $550 per child for families who pay tuition to send their children to private schools, and was joined by school administrators, some school districts, the Montana School Boards Association, the state superintendent of public instruction and Bullock’s office.
The same coalition also testified Monday against Senate Bill 81, which would allow up to $5 million a year in tax credits for individuals or businesses that donate to “student scholarship organizations” that give scholarships to students attending private schools.
Robert Enlow,president and CEO of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice authored this guest opinion column for FoxNews.com. Heres’ an excerpt featuring proposals in other states:
• Tennessee’s governor will include a school voucher program in his legislative package.
• The Texas legislature will consider a program in which taxpayers would receive tax credits for donations they make to nonprofits that provide private school scholarships for low-income students.
• Mississippi’s governor proposed a private school choice program for students in underperforming public schools.
• North Carolina’s lawmakers will review proposals for opportunity scholarships and quite possibly education savings accounts, a new type of private school choice available only in Arizona.
The column also mentions additional efforts underway in Alaska, Indiana, and Maine.