Latest news with #KeyConservativeCaucus
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Parents could see up to $12,000 child tax refund under new bipartisan House bill
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that would give parents up to $6,000 per child in expanded tax credits. It's part of a wider piece of legislation called the Affordable Childcare Act, led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., on the right and Sharice Davids, D-Kan., and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., on the left. Both the Republican and Democratic campaigns had called for an expanded child tax credit during the 2024 presidential race, where both sides attempted to make inroads with families struggling to afford care. Scoop: Key Conservative Caucus Draws Red Line On House Budget Plan The current child tax credit levels give parents a refund of up to $2,000 for dependents under age 17. Adults with incomes that exceed $200,000 as a single filer or $400,000 for married couples can still be eligible for a partial credit. The bipartisan bill would raise the maximum threshold to $6,000 for one dependent and $12,000 for two or more. Read On The Fox News App It would also double the tax credit for businesses that facilitate childcare for employees, raising the amount to $300,000 per year for qualifying workplaces. Black Caucus Chair Accuses Trump Of 'Purge' Of 'Minority' Federal Workers During the most recent White House campaign, now-Vice President JD Vance and then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was running for the top of the ticket, called for a $5,000 and $6,000 child tax credit, respectively. But it's not certain Congress will find an appetite to work together on such a bill now, given bitter divisions over the government funding process and President Donald Trump's crackdown on government spending. Republicans are also working on a larger tax package that they're aiming to pass with only GOP votes via the budget reconciliation process. Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which Republicans are hoping to extend with reconciliation, raised the maximum child tax credit from $1,000 at the time to $2,000. If Congress fails to extend Trump's tax cuts by the end of 2025, the original parameters would be back in place. The maximum was briefly raised to $3,000 for children ages 6 to 16 and $3,600 for children ages 0 to 5 to help families cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, but those rates were not article source: Parents could see up to $12,000 child tax refund under new bipartisan House bill
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Impeachment threat hits judge who blocked Trump federal funding freeze
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., is threatening to file articles of impeachment against a federal judge who blocked President Donald Trump's federal funding freeze. "I'm drafting articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.," Clyde wrote on X. "He's a partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump's funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending. We must end this abusive overreach. Stay tuned." Scoop: Key Conservative Caucus Draws Red Line On House Budget Plan U.S. District Judge John McConnell filed a new motion Monday ordering the Trump administration to comply with a restraining order issued Jan. 31, temporarily blocking the administration's efforts to pause federal grants and loans. McConnell's original restraining order came after 22 states and the District of Columbia challenged the Trump administration's actions to hold up funds for grants, such as the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant and other Environmental Protection Agency programs. However, the states said Friday that the administration is not following through and funds are still tied up. Read On The Fox News App A three-judge panel on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration's appeal of the order on Tuesday. McConnell has come under fire by Trump supporters and conservatives who have accused him of being a liberal activist. Clyde and others have cited a video of McConnell in 2021 saying courts must "stand and enforce the rule of law, that is, against arbitrary and capricious actions by what could be a tyrant or could be whatnot." "You have to take a moment and realize that this, you know, middle-class, white, male, privileged person needs to understand the human being that comes before us that may be a woman, may be Black, may be transgender, may be poor, may be rich, may be — whatever," McConnell said in the video, according to WPRI. Elon Musk wrote on X in response, "Impeach this activist posing as a judge! Such a person does great discredit to the American justice system." Black Caucus Chair Accuses Trump Of 'Purge' Of 'Minority' Federal Workers Clyde confirmed he was preparing articles of impeachment when asked by Fox News Digital on Thursday. "For a federal judge to deny the executive their legitimate right to exercise their authority is wrong," Clyde told Fox News Digital. "This type of judge, this political activist – this radical political activist – should be removed from the bench." When reached for a response to Clyde's threat, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island said McConnell "often sits down with members of the media upon request" but did not comment on pending cases. Trump's allies have been hammering the judges who have issued a series of decisions curbing the president's executive orders. Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., threatened to prepare impeachment articles against another judge earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. Southern District of New York, for blocking Trump's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury article source: Impeachment threat hits judge who blocked Trump federal funding freeze
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Speaker Johnson says House will match Trump's pace as Democrats are left ‘flailing'
House Speaker Mike Johnson poked fun at "flailing" Democrats on Sunday and vowed that the House of Representatives would be just as aggressive in pushing legislation as President Donald Trump has been with executive orders. Johnson made the statement during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" with host Shannon Bream. Johnson said House Republicans are working to compile the massive legislative package Trump has requested. "We're going to secure the border, we're going to make sure that American communities are safe. We're going to get American energy dominance going again in the economy and restore common sense," Johnson said. "But to do all that in one big bill takes a little bit of time. So we're working through that process very productively. We've been building on this for a year, Shannon. All through last year, we had our committees of jurisdiction working on the ideas to put it together," he added. Scoop: Key Conservative Caucus Draws Red Line On House Budget Plan "We were going to do a budget committee markup next week. We might push it a little bit further because the details really matter. Remember that I have the smallest margin in history, about a two vote margin currently. So I've got to make sure everyone agrees before we bring the project forward, that final product, and we've got a few more boxes to check, but we're getting very, very close," he continued. Read On The Fox News App Noncitizen Voter Crackdown Led By Gop Ahead Of 2026 Midterms The budget bill process has not been without its share of in-fighting, however. Republican spending hawks are pushing leaders to include at least $2.5 trillion in spending cuts in the massive legislative package. One GOP lawmaker said that tension bubbled up in a closed-door meeting last week with several "heated exchanges," with conservatives demanding a concrete plan and minimum spending cuts at significantly higher levels than what was initially proposed. "I think there's a lot of frustration right now," the lawmaker told Fox News Digital. "They've been trying to be inclusive, but not every open forum they've offered is giving members the ability to say, 'I feel like people are listening to me,' because I don't know that's the case right now." Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., two conservative members of the House Budget Committee, both told reporters they wanted to see the baseline for spending cuts set at roughly $2.5 trillion. Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this article source: Speaker Johnson says House will match Trump's pace as Democrats are left 'flailing'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Johnson says Trump's Gaza takeover proposal could be 'bold step' in restoring peace
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called President Donald Trump's proposal to "take over" Gaza a "bold step" toward restoring peace in the region. "Of course, the initial announcement yesterday, I think, was greeted with surprise by many, but cheered by, I think, people all around the world," Johnson said during his weekly press conference on Wednesday. "Why? Because that area is so dangerous, and he's taking bold, decisive action to try to ensure the peace of that region." Scoop: Key Conservative Caucus Draws Red Line On House Budget Plan Johnson also noted that conditions in Gaza needed to change in order to avoid another attack similar to Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants invaded southern Israel and killed more than 1,000 people. He stopped short of fully endorsing the action, however, and was later pressed again on whether he believed the U.S. should take control of Gaza. Read On The Fox News App "This is a bold, a decisive move. And I think you have to do something to eradicate the threat to Israel. Here's the problem – if you leave Gaza in its current form, there's always a risk of another Oct. 7. There's always a risk of proxies of Iran, all these terrorist organizations whose stated, openly stated goal is to eliminate Israel as a state," Johnson said. "So it just makes sense to make the neighborhood there safer. I think that's logical. I think it follows common sense." Trump told reporters, "The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip," during a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. "We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all the dangerous unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site," he said. Gop Lawmaker Calls For Congressional Hearing Over Dc Plane Crash Trump said it would "create economic development that would supply unlimited numbers of jobs" and the U.S. would turn the war-torn region into the "Riviera of the Middle East." Johnson said he would discuss the matter during his own meeting with Netanyahu on article source: Johnson says Trump's Gaza takeover proposal could be 'bold step' in restoring peace
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US heading towards economic ‘heart attack' if debt is not cut soon: World's largest hedge fund founder
The United States is currently in a "death spiral" of debt that could lead to an economic "heart attack" if both parties do not work together to start cutting immediately, according to Ray Dalio, the founder of the world's largest hedge fund. During a recent conversation on "The All-In Podcast" with co-host David Friedberg, Dalio noted that a "death spiral" typically refers to when a company or government has too much debt and must borrow to service it. According to Dalio, investors are acutely aware of this, which is causing credit to get worse and interest rates to increase. Dalio, the Chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, says this is the worst thing that can happen to a heavily indebted entity. He notes that the key question is whether the debt creates a large enough income to mitigate this issue. "That's like, I don't know, eating vegetables or something. It's a healthy process. And if not, credit begins to build up this debt, it begins to become like plaque in the arteries. And you can measure it just like you could measure it in the arteries, and you can see how it constricts that circulatory system," Dalio told "All-In." Scoop: Key Conservative Caucus Draws Red Line On House Budget Plan If interest and debt service continuously constrict a government's money supply, Dalio claims this can lead to an "economic debt heart attack." Read On The Fox News App A large amount of debt creates the need for somebody to buy it. Debt risks not only create the urgency for new supply to be offered, but holders may also sell those debt assets, leading to an overwhelming supply relative to demand, according to Dalio. In the event that the debt service burden rises or there is a big supply-demand imbalance, the government's central bank can print more money and buy it. If they do not, the price of the debt must rise to constrict borrowing, snowballing to the constriction of non-existent credit, in turn weakening the economy and causing bad economic conditions. Dalio says the government can let that happen or print money and buy the debt to monetize it. However, this will cause inflation and lower the value of the debt. "In either case, you don't want to hold that debt because either there's a debt service problem or there's a depreciation," he adds. Black Caucus Chair Accuses Trump Of 'Purge' Of 'Minority' Federal Workers Today, the U.S. has $36.4 trillion of federal government debt and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 29.1 trillion, giving a debt-to-GDP ratio of 125%. This ratio has climbed steadily since the pandemic began in 2020, when the federal government debt was $20 trillion, and GDP was just $21 trillion. Since the pandemic, federal government debt has risen by 80%, while GDP has climbed by 38%. Despite recent efforts to cut interest rates again, markets have traded treasuries down, causing the long-term interest rates of U.S. debt to spike up to levels not felt since just before the 2008 global financial crisis. To keep the economy growing, the U.S. government is running a nearly $2 trillion annual deficit, nearly 7% of GDP, while paying over $1 trillion per year in interest alone on the existing outstanding debt. Dalio expressed a sense of urgency in relation to mounting debt, wading into the potential benefits of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and how the need to cut costs will inevitably accentuate already entrenched political divisions. Touting his personal solution, Dalio said the deficit, which is the equivalent of bonds selling, must be cut from 7.5 percent down to 3 percent of GDP. Doge Announces More Than $1B In Savings After Canceling 104 Federal Dei Contracts "Different people have different views as to how to cut it. Forget it. I don't really care," Dalio said. "Just, you have to have a unified agreement. Everybody in Congress and the president and so on should pledge to do that. And then the question is how to do it. But they should know that number (equivalent to around 900 billion a year)." Dalio worries that the timeline to close this gap may be too long. He says it's not just a matter of DOGE but also less regulation and productivity changes, which could, in part, come from artificial intelligence (AI) or even revenue produced by tariffs and translate into profit. When asked if America is better off with President Donald Trump versus former President Biden in the financial context, Dalio said, "Yes, I do believe we are." "In terms of profitability and the likelihood of cutting, I think the Republicans are probably more likely to make these moves than the Democrats. But you also have to take into consideration the impacts, the social impacts and the other impacts that are going to come from this. We're at a civil war internally and we're at an international war simultaneously. So, there are second-order effects. I think the main thing is to take those numbers and make them real at 3 percent," he continued. Top Doge Lawmaker Says Trump 'Already Racking Up Wins For Taxpayers' With Efficiency Initiatives But these cuts will be brutal, according to Dalio. He notes that "how the pie is divided" with respect to government budgeting is going to be very political and the "disruptive effects will be enormous." "We're really all guessing on how disruptive those effects will be. It's too much of a – but you're absolutely right. Lots of jobs are going to be lost," he said. "Lots of change is going to happen in terms of turbulence. And do we have a plan? How could we even agree on a plan of how to deal with that? I don't think we're in a time, it may be in the rest of our lifetimes, where that agreement is going to be easy." The Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) released a new model in December that said it is "possible" that the U.S. government would exhaust the ability to pay its debts by June 16, 2025. "The government is projected to run about a $2 trillion deficit next year. And so that means that the spending obligations that Congress and the government have incurred are a lot more than what we're going to bring in tax revenues," Matthew Dickerson, director of Budget Policy at EPIC, told Fox News Digital. "To be able to pay the things the government has promised to pay on time, you need to increase the debt limit."Original article source: US heading towards economic 'heart attack' if debt is not cut soon: World's largest hedge fund founder
