In Signing Sweeping Tax Bill, Trump Questions Whether He is Getting Enough Credit
December 23, 2017 by admin
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The bill was the most significant legislative victory for Mr. Trump, who has struggled during his first year in office to pass major bills that would deliver on campaign promises, even with Republicans having the majority in both chambers of Congress. Republicans promise the new tax law will benefit the middle class, but Democrats have warned that the law could be harmful to many lower-income taxpayers and to the nation’s fiscal health.
“It’s going to be a tremendous thing for the American people,” Mr. Trump said.
Before signing the legislation on Friday, Mr. Trump said in a Twitter post that companies were celebrating the bill’s passage with bonuses for workers.
Our big and very popular Tax Cut and Reform Bill has taken on an unexpected new source of “love” – that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses. This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage. Merry Christmas!
—
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Dec. 22, 2017
During the signing ceremony, Mr. Trump said, “Corporations are literally going wild over this.” A handful of companies, including ATT, which is seeking government approval of a major acquisition of Time Warner, have announced that they would give bonuses to workers.
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There was some discussion in Congress and at the White House that Mr. Trump should consider delaying the signing until early 2018 as a way to delay automatic spending cuts that could have been triggered by the tax cuts. In addition, some companies said that delay would give them more time to adjust to the major changes that the new tax code will mean for their businesses.
However, once Congress reached a deal this week to avoid the possibility of the spending cuts, White House officials signaled that Mr. Trump wanted to sign the bill into law as soon as possible.
Mr. Trump often reacts to television news, and Friday was no different. The president delayed his travel to Florida for the holidays by an hour to stave off potential criticism.
“Every one of the networks was saying, “Will he keep his promise?’ ” the president said.
Shortly after 10 a.m., Mr. Trump announced in a Twitter post that the bill would be signed “in 30 minutes.”
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Earlier in the morning, the president suggested that he would not get credit for what he said were extraordinary accomplishments for a first year.
With all my Administration has done on Legislative Approvals (broke Harry Truman’s Record), Regulation Cutting, Judicial Appointments, Building Military, VA, TAX CUTS REFORM, Record Economy/Stock Market and so much more, I am sure great credit will be given by mainstream news?
—
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Dec. 22, 2017
Under the new tax law, individual rates will be lowered, but those cuts are set to expire in 2025. The standard deduction, which will almost double, is likely to become more popular. The tax credit for children will also double, which Republicans have said will benefit lower-income families. The largest cut by far in the new tax law — which will not expire — benefits corporations.
The new law has been criticized by lawmakers representing states with high taxes, because the bill caps state and local tax deductions at $10,000.
The law also eliminates the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that most people have health insurance or pay a penalty. Mr. Trump has said that amounted to repealing President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, but 8.8 million Americans signed up for coverage, according to figures his administration announced on Thursday. The law is not repealed, but the mandate had been considered an important feature of it.
Mr. Trump also signed a stopgap spending bill in order to avoid a government shutdown. In addition to extending government funding, the bill includes $4 billion for missile defense, among other provisions.
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Security Council Tightens Economic Vise on North Korea, Blocking Fuel, Ships and Workers
December 23, 2017 by admin
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“President Trump has used just about every lever you can use, short of starving the people of North Korea to death, to change their behavior,” Mr. Bossert said. “And so we don’t have a lot of room left here to apply pressure to change their behavior.”
In fact, the public C.I.A. assessment is that no amount of economic sanctions will force the North to give up its nuclear program.
The United States, which has led the sanctions effort at the Security Council, drafted the latest round of sanctions in consultation with other members, most notably China, which historically has been reticent to impose them. The deadline for the return of North Korean workers was changed to 24 months from 12 months, partly in response to Chinese and Russian concerns.
It was a striking display of unity, only a day after most members of the United Nations General Assembly condemned the new United States stance on Jerusalem.
Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador, thanked the other council members — especially China — for coming together on the resolution and said further North Korean defiance would “invite further punishment and isolation.”
Ms. Haley called North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile test last month “another attempt by the Kim regime to masquerade as a great power while their people starve and their soldiers defect.”
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Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador, said the ability of all council members to come together on the North Korea issue showed they are “seeing the bigger interests we all have.”
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Mr. Rycroft said the new measures “tighten the grip and make it even harder for the regime to fund the illegal programs, and at the same time insure we don’t make life harder for the poor people of North Korea.”
The assent of China and Russia to the tightened measures appeared to reflect the growing impatience with North Korea by the world’s most powerful nations, regardless of their politics.
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Experts on North Korea said the new measures had the potential to dissuade Mr. Kim from further escalating the tensions with more tests, but were cautious about predicting his behavior.
“If the international community, including countries like China and Russia, implements these measures fully, faithfully and quickly, it will apply an unprecedented and irresistible level of pressure on the North Korean regime,” said Evans J.R. Revere, a former senior State Department diplomat for East Asia.
If that happens, he said, it would force North Korea “to make a choice between continued defiance of the international community on the one hand and a return to the negotiating table on the other.”
Under North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, grandson of its founding father Kim Il-sung, the impoverished country of 25 million has exalted nuclear weapons and threatened to use them against the United States, its No. 1 perceived enemy since an armistice halted the Korean War more than six decades ago.
President Trump has responded to these threats by vowing to “totally destroy” North Korea if attacked and pressing China, North Korea’s most important trading partner, to cut off oil exports to the country.
There have been mixed signs, at best, that diplomatic efforts to avert a military confrontation are working.
Last week Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson told the Security Council that “a sustained cessation of North Korea’s threatening behavior must occur before talks can begin,” a sharp contrast from conciliatory comments he had made just a few days earlier.
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The North Koreans have conducted six nuclear tests and have demonstrated major progress with their missiles even though the United Nations has prohibited them.
The tightened measures approved on Friday included a restriction that would cut the supply of North Korea’s imports of refined petroleum by roughly 90 percent. The would also place limits on crude oil deliveries and give other countries enhanced powers to stop North Korea-bound ships suspected of carrying contraband.
A further punitive action requires North Korea to recall thousands of North Korean laborers, many of them working in Russia and China, who send remittances home, an important source of government income. That action tightens an earlier sanction that banned North Korea from sending more workers abroad.
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