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► Congress is back in session after the Thanksgiving Holiday with a jam-packed schedule waiting for them. As Politico explains:
December is shaping up to be the cruelest month for Republicans who control Capitol Hill.
Under enormous pressure for a legislative achievement, GOP senators will attempt to follow their House counterparts this week by passing a massive tax overhaul they can send to President Donald Trump by the end of the year.
At the same time, they’re dealing with Democrats to avert a Christmastime government shutdown. And that battle is complicated even further by an emotional fight over the fate of hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants…
…The to-do list, which Trump will discuss with top congressional leaders at a White House meeting on Tuesday, doesn’t end there. Lawmakers are butting heads over a third tranche of emergency aid for hurricane-ravaged areas. Key surveillance powers used by the National Security Agency need to be renewed. Funding for a health insurance program benefiting 9 million lower-income children is already long expired, with several states close to running out of cash.
► The Republican tax plan still winding its way through Congress is picking up near-unanimous disapproval from every group that studies the legislation. From the Washington Post:
The Senate Republican tax plan gives substantial tax cuts and benefits to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, while the nation’s poorest would be worse off, according to a report released Sunday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Republicans are aiming to have the full Senate vote on the tax plan as early as this week, but the new CBO analysis showing large, harmful effects on the poor may complicate those plans. The CBO also said the bill would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, a potential problem for Republican lawmakers worried about America’s growing debt.
Democrats have repeatedly slammed the bill as a giveaway to the rich at the expense of the poor. In addition to lowering taxes for businesses and many individuals, the Senate bill also makes a major change to health insurance that the CBO projects would have a harsh impact on lower-income families.
This tax proposal is absolutely awful. Period.
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver) throttled the GOP tax plan in the weekly Democratic address over the weekend.
► The next time you hear Colorado Congressional Republicans talking about how much they love wind power, remember this important part of the House tax bill. You should probably also keep in mind how Republicans are planning to screw over teachers.
Oh, and guess which sitting U.S. President stands to personally benefit from some last-minute changes to the Republican Senate tax proposal?
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► Governor John Hickenlooper has a new Chief of Staff. His name is Pat Meyers…and that’s about the extent of what we can tell you about this.
► Is there anything more “Washington D.C.” than the battle over who should be the next head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? As the Washington Post explains:
As a Republican congressman, Mick Mulvaney called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau a “joke” and said he wished it didn’t exist. On Monday, Mulvaney showed up at the agency’s D.C. offices with a bag of doughnuts and a new title: boss.
But after a frantic weekend of political and legal posturing, Mulvaney’s arrival represented a new escalation of tensions over who ultimately will lead the agency. A day earlier, Leandra English filed suit claiming she is the “rightful acting director.”
Leadership of the agency was thrown into doubt last Friday when Richard Cordray stepped down as CFPB director and said his chief of staff, English, would temporarily replace him. A few hours later, Trump named Mulvaney, the Office of Management and Budget director and a longtime critic of the CFPB, to the job.
Both sides are pointing to the fine print in dueling federal statutes to claim authority over the job running one of the most controversial, and powerful, banking industry regulators. English filed suit late Sunday, asking for a temporary restraining order to prevent Trump from appointing Mulvaney acting director. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, one of two newly confirmed Trump appointees on D.C. court, is slated to take up the case.
Politico has more on this bizarre story.
► George H.W. Bush is now officially the longest-living former President of the United States.
► Former Colorado Judge Neil Gorsuch is not shy about staking his conservative flag in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, as the Denver Post reports, two other Colorado Republicans are on a short list to fill the next Supreme Court vacancy.
► A former aide to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is mounting a last-minute write-in campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama.
► Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) was roundly booed at a town hall meeting in Pueblo last week.
► Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler is working hard to convince himself that running for Attorney General is not a consolation prize for failing as a Republican candidate for Governor.
► Even the head cleric of the Church of England is at a loss to explain why Evangelicals in America would be supportive of Donald Trump.
► House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was a guest on “Meet the Press” on Sunday. It was not good.
► President Trump is taking a new step in his “deny everything” approach to scandals. Now he’s even trying to pretend that things he already apologized for didn’t actually happen.
► The anti-choice crowd is pushing a different approach targeted at zygote daddies.
► Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman is apparently running for Governor in 2018, but she’s doing a pretty awful job so far.
► The Trump administration is trying to destroy Net Neutrality. You only have a few weeks left before they succeed.
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Not only is Poppy Bush the longest living, he's also one of the creepiest Prezzies in modern history. He is alleged to have patted or groped the rear ends of seven women while they stood next to his wheelchair.
He joked that his favorite character is "David Cop-A-Feel". The rot in the GOP is not a new thing, just an "Ewww" thing.
NE CO Democrats Q&A Forum for Attorneys General in Yuma December 9