Latest news with #Capitol
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
The Big Beautiful Bill Moves Forward: A First Look At 10 Key Tax Cuts
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 22: U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media after the ... More House narrowly passed a bill forwarding President Donald Trump's agenda at the U.S. Capitol on May 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. The tax and spending legislation, in what has been called the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" Act, redirects money to the military and border security and includes cuts to Medicaid, education and other domestic programs. Johnson was flanked by House Committee Chairmen who helped craft the legislation. (Photo by) During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to make major changes to U.S. economic policy. That effort began with significant shifts in tariff strategy, but tax reform remained the cornerstone of his agenda. This week, the House of Representatives approved the initial version of new tax and spending legislation, dubbed the "Big Beautiful Bill." The proposal includes tax changes that reflect many of Trump's original campaign promises. Although the bill is still in its early stages and subject to change, the current version outlines substantial tax cuts that aim to benefit Americans across all income levels. Below is a summary of the top 10 tax cuts and breaks featured in the bill. The new legislation makes the lower income tax rates created during the first Trump Administration in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) permanent. These tax rates are currently due to expire at the end of 2025, and the current bill extends these rates indefinitely. The current bill extends the increased standard deduction at the rate provided in the TCJA. Here's a breakdown of the increases in the standard deduction created by TCJA, which will remain with the passing of the current bill. Further, the bill will increase the standard deduction for all filing types by an additional $1,000 to $1,500 until 2029 in an effort to combat inflation. Beginning with the 2026 tax year, the new bill provides for the qualified business income deduction to be permanently increased from 20% to 23%. This provision is currently set to expire at the end of 2025 and would result in a significant tax increase for small business owners when combined with the elevated tax brackets that will be created by the expiration of the TCJA. This provision would save a business owner earning $1 million over $111 thousand in taxes, as illustrated in the table below. The Proposed enhancement of the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction saves business owners a ... More significant amount in taxes. Prior to the TCJA, the child tax credit was up to $1,000 per child under the age of 17 as of the end of the tax year. Trump's TJCA increased the credit to $2,500; however, this increase was set to expire at the end of the year. The new bill extends this increase to the child tax credit until 2029, and keeps it at a minimum of $2,000 indefinitely. Further, the value of the credit is indexed to inflation to ensure it continues to provide a meaningful benefit to parents. The bill provides for an extension of the increased alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption. AMT is applied in addition to regular income tax for taxpayers who are subject to it. When it was established in 1969, it aimed to ensure that high-income taxpayers paid a minimum amount of tax, even after using various deductions and tax preferences. However, the calculation was not indexed to inflation; therefore, after 5 decades, the calculation began affecting middle-income earners. The TCJA increased the exemption amount for AMT to protect middle-income taxpayers, and this extension maintains that protection. In addition to the standard deduction increases, the new legislation provides for an additional $4,000 deduction for eligible senior taxpayers aged 65 years or older. This deduction can be applied if the senior taxpayer takes the standard deduction or elects to itemize deductions. The full deduction would be available for single filers with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of $75,000 or less, and for married couples filing jointly with a MAGI of $150,000 or less. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the total amount of overtime and premium pay in the United States was approximately $5.7 trillion in 2024. This additional income may cause a taxpayer's income to exceed higher tax brackets, resulting in a higher tax rate for hourly workers. In contrast, the exemption for taxes on overtime pay is projected to increase take-home pay and contribute to economic growth. The No Tax on Tips Act was initially introduced in January 2025 by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. That bill was proposed and passed the U.S. Senate on May 20, 2025. The bill was passed unanimously and would create a tax deduction on tips up to $25,000. The components of this original bill were incorporated into the larger spending and tax reform bill that was passed by the House of Representatives days later. However, the latest bill included no cap on the deduction amount, allowing all tip income to be excluded. The bill explicitly states that Income from tips claimed must be from an occupation "which traditionally and customarily" has received tips. This change would allow taxpayers to deduct a larger portion of their state and local tax payments on their federal returns. The existing tax law limits deductions for state income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes to $10,000. The proposed bill raises that cap by 400%, with benefits phasing out for households that make more than $500,000. This is arguably one of the most unexpected features of the new legislation. If passed in its current state, children born in the United States between January 1, 2025, and January 1, 2029, will be eligible to receive $1,000 via a federal government contribution in the child's "Trump Accounts.' The money will be invested in financial markets on their behalf, and they will be able to access it when they reach adulthood. The funds can be used for specific purposes, such as education expenses, purchasing a first home, or capital to start a business. These accounts will be established and funded by the US Treasury. Parents and third parties will also be allowed to contribute up to $5,000 per year. Earnings grow tax-deferred, and qualified withdrawals are taxed at the more favorable long-term capital gains rate. Children can withdraw up to 50% of the account balance at 18 years old. Between the ages of 25 and 30, they can access their full balance for approved uses. After the age of 30, the funds are available without restriction. The Big Beautiful Bill has passed the House, but lawmakers have signaled that it will undergo changes as it moves through the Senate. Most expect the Senate to revise the bill, after which the updated version will return to the House for a second vote. Legislators have expressed their intention to finalize and pass the legislation by July 4th.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
A moral moment for Montana: Medicaid cuts considered in the U.S. Senate
Rally attendees hold signs at a rally in support of reauthorizing Medicaid expansion at the Montana State Capitol on Jan. 15, 2025. (Micah Drew/Daily Montanan) Last week, by a single vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.' This is sweeping reconciliation bill that promises to reshape the American social safety net. At the heart of this legislation are more than $700 billion in cuts to Medicaid, a program that serves as a lifeline for tens of thousands of Montanans with disabilities. Medicaid pays for some of the most basic services many people with disabilities need to get by each day, like the basic personal care supports someone with a physical disability may need to get out of bed in the morning, the more intensive skill training and safety supervision someone with an intellectual disability may need to learn to live more independently, and it pays for medication to maintain a person's mental health and more intensive community supports when they have mental health emergency. For Montanans with disabilities, this bill is not just a policy shift – it's a direct threat to our lives. The bill imposes new administrative hurdles, including requiring Medicaid recipients to reverify their eligibility twice a year. For people with disabilities – many of whom already navigate complex bureaucracies – this change increases the risk of losing coverage due to paperwork errors or missed deadlines. Here in Montana, we know this isn't a mere possibility, it was our reality. In 2023 and 2024, Montana required Medicaid recipients to submit paperwork to verify their continued eligibility. When Montanans tried to follow the rules to verify their eligibility, they found the state's phone lines were left unanswered and many people were kicked off for administrative reasons without ever looking at their clinical need. Though the bill includes exemptions, these are often poorly implemented. In practice, people are misclassified, denied exemptions, or fall through the cracks due to inaccessible systems. People with legitimate disabilities are stripped of their health care and there is a big administrative burden on the individual and the state eligibility system to sort through wrongful denials and terminations. When Arkansas implemented work requirements in 2018 similar to the work requirements in the new federal reconciliation bill, more than 18,000 people lost coverage, many of them wrongfully, and there was no meaningful impact on employment. At Disability Rights Montana, we have been here for 50 years serving the disability community and we hear from people every day who rely on Medicaid to live independently, to work, to go to school, and to participate in their communities. These are veterans with PTSD, children with autism, adults with spinal cord injuries, and seniors with dementia. Defunding disability services is a major step backwards in history to a time when people with disabilities were excluded from society and warehoused in poor institutional conditions. This bill sends a clear message to people with disabilities that their lives are not as valuable as tax cuts for the rich. Even if you don't have a disability or don't use Medicaid, you will feel the cuts. It is well known in health care circles that even Montanans who don't rely on Medicaid for their insurance coverage will feel the effects of this bill, especially in rural communities. For example, this year the state legislature heard from hospital administrators and healthcare providers who explained the impact Medicaid expansion has had on our state. It has allowed rural hospitals to add or expand specialty services like orthopedic surgery and mental health care. Without this funding, these services may disappear and that will affect all patients, not just those who are covered by Medicaid. Hospitals and other health care providers serve the rich and poor alike. When the money for poor people goes away, so do the therapists, nurses, and doctors that money paid for. If you lose funding to cover portions of health care professionals' salaries, those positions go away completely because you can't hire 60% of a doctor in a rural hospital. The bill is now before the Senate. Given the slim political margins there, Sens. Daines and Sheehy could cast deciding votes. Budgets are moral documents. Just a couple months ago, the state legislature decided the moral choice was to maintain a robust Medicaid program for Montana. Now Senators Daines and Sheehy must answer the same moral question. What will they do?
New York Times
a day ago
- Business
- New York Times
Tech Bro Had to Go
Elon Musk came to Washington with a chain saw and left with a black eye. Shrinking government is hard, particularly when you do it callously and carelessly — and apparently on hallucinogens. As with President Trump's tariffs, DOGE has created more volatility than value. A guy who went bankrupt six times doesn't really care about spending. And Trump certainly didn't want to see the headline, 'Trump Cuts Social Security.' He just wanted to get revenge on 'the bureaucracy' by deputizing Musk to force out a lot of federal employees and give the impression they were cutting all the waste. As always with Trump, the former reality star, the impression matters more than the reality, especially the reality of his own sins. This past week, Trump tried to recast the very nature of crime. As The Times's Glenn Thrush wrote: 'President Trump is employing the vast power of his office to redefine criminality to suit his needs — using pardons to inoculate criminals he happens to like, downplaying corruption and fraud as crimes, and seeking to stigmatize political opponents by labeling them criminals.' It is sickening that the Justice Department is considering settling a wrongful-death lawsuit by giving $5 million to the family of Ashli Babbitt — who was shot on Jan. 6, 2021, by a Capitol police officer when she ignored his warnings and tried to climb through a smashed window into the Speaker's Lobby in the Capitol. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
2 days ago
- General
- CBS News
As Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger retires, he's concerned about spike in threats against lawmakers
As U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger retires from his post at the Capitol Friday, he says the threats facing members of Congress have accelerated — they've more than quadrupled over the past several years and remain alarmingly high. Manger, who took charge of the department in the difficult months after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol siege, quantified the surge in threats targeting lawmakers and how the department has had to evolve to expand its protection of senators and House members. Leaning forward in his seat to emphasize his point, Manger said, "It's a huge responsibility. We've gone from 1,000 to 2,000 threats a year to now 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 threats a year." And those threats are now reaching outside the Capitol. The department is being spread farther and wider to prevent attacks. "The threats are coming in from all over the country. Not everybody knows it, but the Capitol Police has nationwide jurisdiction to address those threats," Manger said. "So, we are sending investigators and agents all over this country to investigate these cases." He has helped secure large budget increases for his department to help protect the Capitol campus, its members, staffers and visitors. But the growing need to bolster security and investigations in the 50 states — including the hometowns and home offices of members of Congress — has required more funding and more staff. Manger's budget request for 2026 is nearly $1 billion, approximately double the funding the department was given in 2021, prior to the Capitol riot. In a letter to a U.S. House subcommittee in April, Manger wrote, "I recognize there are other police departments of a similar size whose budget is not as large as ours, but we are not an ordinary law enforcement agency." In his request, Manger also said he expected the number of threats against lawmakers to continue to rise, "given the current political climate." The Capitol Police have aggressively recruited and set ambitious hiring goals to help bolster their protection details for members of Congress. Manger, in his testimony before the House Appropriations Committee last month, said the department is adding dozens of new positions in the unit that oversees protective details and intelligence. He told CBS News the department was already hampered with a staffing shortage before the Jan. 6 attack and has faced hurdles in its effort to hire, due to morale issues and trauma suffered by officers after the Insurrection. Four officers who responded on Jan. 6 died by suicide within seven months of the attack. Many officers at the Capitol that day were subjected to repeated violent assaults. Manger has been urging lawmakers to support his recommended budget increase to help boost officer hiring and recruitment. "When [lawmakers] travel, when they're at the airports, when they have congressional business to do at home," Manger said. "They've got to meet with their constituents. So, we want to make sure that they're safe." An immediate replacement for Manger has not yet been named. The U.S. Capitol Police Board will select a successor, but he expects some lawmakers will also want to meet candidates for the position. At an April hearing on the Capitol Police budget, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat who has oversight of the police department, said the department "does need more to keep us safe."
Arab News
2 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Elon Musk came to Washington wielding a chain saw. He leaves behind upheaval and unmet expectations
WASHINGTON: Elon Musk arrived in the nation's capital with the chain saw-wielding swagger of a tech titan who had never met a problem he couldn't solve with lots of money, long hours or a well-calibrated algorithm. President Donald Trump was delighted to have the world's richest person — and a top campaign donor — working in his administration, talking about how he was 'a smart guy' who 'really cares for our country.' Musk was suddenly everywhere — holding forth in Cabinet meetings while wearing a 'tech support' shirt and black MAGA hat, hoisting his young son on his shoulders in the Oval Office, flying aboard Air Force One, sleeping in the White House. Democrats described the billionaire entrepreneur as Trump's 'co-president,' and senior officials bristled at his imperial approach to overhauling the federal government. After establishing Tesla as a premier electric automaker, building rockets at SpaceX and reshaping the social media landscape by buying Twitter, Musk was confident that he could bend Washington to his vision. Now that's over. Musk said this week that he's leaving his job as a senior adviser, an announcement that came after he revealed his plan to curtail political donations and he criticized the centerpiece of Trump's legislative agenda. It's a quiet exit after a turbulent entrance, and he's trailed by upheaval and unmet expectations. Thousands of people were indiscriminately laid off or pushed out — hundreds of whom had to be rehired — and some federal agencies were eviscerated. But no one has been prosecuted for the fraud that Musk and Trump said was widespread within the government. Musk reduced his target for cutting spending from $2 trillion to $1 trillion to $150 billion, and even that goal may not be reached. In Silicon Valley, where Musk got his start as a founder of PayPal, his kind of promises are known as vaporware — a product that sounds extraordinary yet never gets shipped to market. Trump said Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he would hold a press conference Friday with Musk. 'This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way,' Trump added. 'Elon is terrific!' Musk's position was always designed to be temporary, and he had previously announced his intention to dedicate more of his time to his companies. But he also told reporters last month that he was willing to work part-time for Trump 'indefinitely, as long as the president wants me to do it.' Musk got a seat at Trump's table and put $250 million behind his campaign It was clear that Musk wouldn't be the typical kind of presidential adviser around the time that he showed the world his belly button. Racing on stage at a campaign rally one month before the election, he jumped for joy next to Trump, his T-shirt rising to expose his midriff. Musk had already sold Trump on his idea for a Department of Government Efficiency while also putting at least $250 million behind his candidacy. The plan called for a task force to hunt for waste, fraud and abuse, a timeworn idea with a new twist. Instead of putting together a blue-ribbon panel of government experts, Trump would give his top donor a desk in the White House and what appeared to be carte blanche to make changes. Musk deployed software engineers who burrowed into sensitive databases, troubling career officials who sometimes chose to resign rather than go along. Trump brushed off concerns about Musk's lack of experience in public service or conflicts of interest from his billions of dollars in federal contracts. Their unlikely partnership had the potential for a generational impact on American politics and government. While Musk dictated orders for government departments from his perch in the White House, he was poised to use his wealth to enforce loyalty to the president. His language was that of catastrophism. Excessive spending was a crisis that could only be solved by drastic measures, Musk claimed, and 'if we don't do this, America will go bankrupt.' But even though he talked about his work in existential terms, he treated the White House like a playground. He brought his children to a meeting with the Indian prime minister. He let the president turn the driveway into a makeshift Tesla showroom to help boost sales. He installed an oversized screen in his office that he occasionally used to play video games. Sometimes, Trump invited Musk to sleep over in the Lincoln Bedroom. 'We'll be on Air Force One, Marine One, and he'll be like, 'do you want to stay over?'' Musk told reporters. The president made sure he got some caramel ice cream from the kitchen. 'This stuff's amazing,' Musk said. 'I ate a whole tub of it.' Looking back on his experience in government, he described it as a lark. 'It is funny that we've got DOGE,' an acronym that references an online meme featuring a surprised-looking dog from Japan. 'How did we get here?' Musk did not give federal workers the benefit of the doubt From the beginning, Musk treated federal workers with contempt. At best, they were inefficient; at worst, they were committing fraud. His team offered them a 'fork in the road,' meaning they could get paid to quit. Probationary employees, generally people new on the job without full civil service protection, were shown the door. Anyone who stayed faced escalating demands, such as what became known as the 'five things' emails. Musk wanted every government employee to submit a list of five things they accomplished in the previous week, and he claimed that 'failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.' Some administration officials curtailed the plan, concerned that it could jeopardize security in more sensitive areas of the government, and it eventually faded, an early sign of Musk's struggle to get traction. But in the meantime, he continued issuing orders like thunderbolts. One day in February, Musk posted 'CFPB RIP,' plus an emoji of a tombstone. The headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created after the Great Recession to protect Americans from fraud and deceptive practices, was shut down and employees were ordered to stop working. Musk had already started gutting the US Agency for International Development, a pillar of the country's foreign policy establishment and the world's largest provider of humanitarian assistance. 'Spent the weekend feeding USAID into a wood chipper,' he bragged. Thousands of contacts were cut off, pleasing conservatives who disliked the agency's progressive initiatives on climate change and gay rights. Musk rejected concerns about the loss of a crucial lifeline for impoverished people around the globe, saying, 'no one has died.' However, children who once relied on American assistance perished from malnutrition, and the death toll is expected to increase. The lawsuits began piling up. Sometimes workers got their jobs back, only to lose them again. The Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for ensuring the safety of everything from baby formula to biotech drugs, planned to lay off 3,500 employees. But again and again, the agency was forced to rehire people who were initially deemed expendable, including laboratory scientists, travel bookers and document specialists. Commissioner Marty Makary, who started his job after many of the cuts took place, told attendees at a recent conference that 'it was hard and my job is to make sure we can heal from that.' Only 1,900 layoffs took place, but another 1,200 staffers took buyouts or early retirement. Experts fear the agency has lost much of its institutional knowledge and expertise in areas like vaccines, tobacco and food. There are also concerns about safety on public lands. The National Park Service has been bleeding staff, leaving fewer people to maintain trails, clean restrooms and guide visitors. More cuts at the Forest Service could undermine efforts to prevent and fight wildfires. The Environmental Protection Agency faces a broad overhaul, such as gutting the Office of Research and Development, which was responsible for improving air pollution monitoring and discovering harmful chemicals in drinking water. Not even low-profile organizations were exempt. Trump ordered the downsizing of the US Institute of Peace, a nonprofit think tank created by Congress, and Musk's team showed up to carry out his plan. The organizations' leaders were deposed, then reinstated after a court battle. Musk made little headway at the top sources of federal spending The bulk of federal spending goes to health care programs like Medicaid and Medicare, plus Social Security and the military. Unfortunately for Musk, all of those areas are politically sensitive and generally require congressional approval to make changes. Thousands of civilian workers were pushed out at the Pentagon, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reducing the ranks of top generals and looking to consolidate various commands. A plan to downsize an office for testing and evaluating new weapons systems could save $300 million per year. Hegseth recently asked employees to submit one idea per week for cutting waste. However, the Pentagon budget would increase by $150 billion, for a total of more than $900 billion, under Trump's spending proposal working its way through Congress. The money includes $25 billion to lay the groundwork for Trump's 'golden dome' missile defense program and $34 billion to expand the naval fleet with more shipbuilding. Another $45 million is expected to be spent on a military parade on June 14, which is the 250th anniversary of the Army's founding and Trump's 79th birthday. Musk also faced blowback for targeting Social Security, which provides monthly benefits to retirees and some children. He suggested that the popular program was 'a Ponzi scheme' and the government could save between $500 billion and $700 billion by tackling waste and fraud. However, his estimates were inflated. Social Security's inspector general said there was only $71.8 billion in improper payments over eight years. Nor was there any evidence that millions of dead people were receiving benefits. Changes to Social Security phone services, pitched as a way to eliminate opportunities for fraud, were walked back after an outcry from lawmakers and beneficiaries. But the agency could still shed 7,000 workers while closing some of its offices. Musk's popularity cratered even though Americans often agreed with his premise that the federal government is bloated and wasteful, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 33 percent of US adults had a favorable view of Musk in April, down from 41 percent in December. In addition, 65 percent said Musk had too much influence over the federal government. Musk talked of staggering savings but delivered modest results During a campaign rally in October, Musk said he could find 'at least $2 trillion' in spending cuts. In January, before Trump was inaugurated, he revised by saying, 'if we try for $2 trillion, we've got a good shot at getting one.' But in April, at a Cabinet meeting, Musk provided a different target. He was 'excited to announce' that they could reach $150 billion in savings during the current fiscal year. Whether that figure proves to be accurate is difficult to measure, especially because DOGE routinely inflated or mischaracterized its work. But it falls short of President Bill Clinton's initiative three decades ago, which resulted in $136 billion in savings — the equivalent of more than $240 billion today. Elaine Kamarck, a key figure in the Clinton administration, said they focused on making the government more responsive and updating antiquated internal procedures. The work took years. 'We went about it methodically, department by department,' she said. The effort also reduced the federal workforce by more than 400,000 employees. However, Musk did little to seek insight from people who knew the inner workings of government. 'They made some changes without really knowing what they were doing,' said Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies for the libertarian think tank Cato Institute. He said there were 'a lot of unforced errors.' In the end, Nowrasteh said, 'they set themselves up for failure.'
