The Senate Wants to Alter House Tax Bill To Make It Worse

The Republican Congress failed to pass an unpopular healthcare bill.  They only learned one message from that failure.  They learned that they must show that they can pass bills even if they are terrible bills that the majority of Americans dislike.  Now they are having the same problem trying to pass an unpopular tax bill.  The Senate wants to eliminate the deduction for state and local taxes which would raise taxes for upper middle class Americans in blue states who pay higher state and local taxes than citizens in red states.  It is opposed by senators in blue states but most of them are Democrats and the Senate can pass the bill without any Democratic votes under Senate rules as long as it does not add more than $1.5 trillion to the deficit after 10 years.

One would think that Republicans would try harder to pass bills that would be good for the nation.  Instead they have come to believe that they must pass terrible bills just to show that they are able to govern without an input from Democrats.  The following quote from a Senate Republican from a red state (Louisiana) expresses their ignorance perfectly.  This is the sad state of our political system in America.

“We’ve got to go pass this bill,” he added. “I’d rather drink weed killer than not pass this bill.”