{"id":57869,"date":"2018-02-02T06:17:52","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T06:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=57869"},"modified":"2018-02-02T06:17:52","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T06:17:52","slug":"republicans-and-democrats-do-battle-over-crumbs-for-working-americans-in-tax-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/republicans-and-democrats-do-battle-over-crumbs-for-working-americans-in-tax-legislation.html","title":{"rendered":"Republicans and Democrats do battle over ‘crumbs’ for working Americans in tax legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republicans and Democrats do battle over \u2018crumbs\u2019 for working Americans in tax legislation<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter\u2019s insights<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a word that Republicans are going to make sure that working-class America hears a lot between now and the November elections: crumbs.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the scornful description that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) used last month, when she summed up the new tax law passed by Republicans as consisting of \u201cthe bonus that corporate America received, versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her comment was already making its way into Republican talking points and ads. One launched this week by the American Action Network, a well-financed outside group aligned with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), showed Pelosi\u2019s face projected onto buildings along the skyline of San Francisco, a city that the right considers the temple of out-of-touch liberalism.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday, President Trump went all in, comparing it to a memorable gaffe in 2016 by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, when she said that half of Trump\u2019s supporters belonged in a \u201cbasket of deplorables.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDoes that make sense \u2014 deplorable and crumbs?\u201d Trump asked during his speech to a congressional Republican retreat in West Virginia. \u201cThose two words, they seem to have a resemblance. I hope it has the same meaning. But she called it \u2018crumbs,\u2019 when people are getting $2,000 and $3,000 and $1,000. That\u2019s not crumbs \u2014 that\u2019s a lot of money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Pelosi\u2019s comment was taken out of context and did not refer to the overall effects of the new tax law. When she said it at a Jan. 11 news conference, it was as an answer to a reporter\u2019s question about a recent spate of announcements that corporations have made attributing employee bonuses and wage increases to the new law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following Trump\u2019s riff, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill retorted: \u201cWhat\u2019s deplorable is Republicans\u2019 desperate effort to hide the multibillion-dollar corporate windfalls of the GOP tax scam behind a handful of meager, one-time bonuses. The casual dishonesty of taking Leader Pelosi\u2019s words out of context is nothing compared to the dishonesty of Republicans\u2019 sales pitch on their tax scam itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The changes that Republicans made to the tax code tilt heavily in favor of the rich and vary widely according to individual circumstances and geography.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this year, 80 percent of households will get some kind of tax reduction, with the average receiving around $1,600, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.<\/span><\/p>\n

That may not be a life-changing sum, but most Americans could easily imagine what they might do with it \u2014 put some money away for a child\u2019s college tuition, perhaps, or fix the annoying engine noise of a car they cannot afford to replace.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the tax law was broadly unpopular when it took effect, recent surveys suggest voters may be warming up to it as they begin to see the changes in their paychecks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most dramatic was a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday, which showed that support had risen to 44 percent \u2014 up from just 26 percent in mid-December, when lawmakers were getting ready to pass it. It was the first major poll to show the legislation had just as many supporters as critics.<\/span><\/p>\n

More worrisome a sign for Democrats in a year when they have high hopes of retaking the House is another number in the Monmouth poll: the generic question of whether voters would prefer a Democrat or a Republican to represent them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The survey showed that Democrats now hold an edge of just two percentage points \u2014 down from a 15-point advantage just a month ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe generic congressional ballot is prone to bouncing around for a bit until the campaign really gets underway later this year. But Democrats who counted on riding public hostility toward the tax bill to retake the House may have to rethink that strategy,\u201d said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the larger imperative for Republicans in months ahead is to closely tie the tax law \u2014 their one major legislative achievement \u2014 to the good feelings that Americans now have about the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say the economy is \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cexcellent,\u201d according to a recent Washington Post-ABC poll, the highest figure in 17 years. But half say the Obama administration deserves significant credit for the economy, while fewer than 4 in 10 say the Trump administration does.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pelosi has long been a foil for Republican candidates and a villain in their attack ads. Moreover, she has a penchant for saying things that can be easily taken out of context and that come back to haunt her party, such as her remark in the run-up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act that \u201cwe have to pass the bill so that you can find out what\u2019s in it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even many Democrats cringed privately at her \u201ccrumbs\u201d comment, which they worry distracts from their larger argument over the fairness of GOP economic policies. And of course, any metaphor that involves baked goods easily lends itself to the Marie Antoinette caricature that Republicans have drawn of Pelosi.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like something a wealthy woman from San Francisco would say,\u201d said Republican pollster Whit Ayres.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHer \u2018crumbs\u2019 comment is something we think we can use pretty effectively,\u201d added Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), who is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

For her part, Pelosi has seemed to be trying to adjust her language. At a Post Live event on Monday, for instance, she referred to the \u201cgoodies\u201d in the tax law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked whether she was backing off her \u201ccrumbs\u201d comment, however, the Democratic leader said: \u201cCrumbs, goodies \u2014 either one. Because it\u2019s not a question of $1,000; it\u2019s a question of the billions of dollars, the banquet that they have put for the top 1 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I don\u2019t begrudge anybody their success, their wealth, their achievement. God bless you for that,\u201d Pelosi added. \u201cThis is unconscionable that we would have 83 percent of the benefits going to the top 1 percent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/republicans-and-democrats-do-battle-over-crumbs-for-working-americans-in-tax-legislation\/2018\/02\/01\/cad4c512-078d-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html?utm_term=.4688387299a1<\/span><\/p>\n

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