3/9/23 - Newsletter
3/9/23 - Newsletter
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tripped last night during a private fundraising event at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, DC, suffering a concussion. Per his communications director David Popp, he will fully recover and "remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment."
FY Budget
Today President Joe Biden revealed his $6.8 trillion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2024. The budget aims to decrease the national deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade through tax hikes on wealthy Americans and corporations. Here are some highlights of what's in the 182-page proposal:
Raising the top marginal tax rate to 39.6% for those who make more than $400,000 and $1 million annually.
A new 25% minimum tax for billionaires.
Increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.
Raising the excise tax on stock buybacks from 1% to 4%.
$20.5 billion for schools in impoverished communities.
$578 million for "school-based counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other health professionals in K-12 schools and to support colleges and universities develop campus-wide strategies to address student mental health needs including hiring additional providers on their campuses."
Extending the solvency of Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by at least 25 years.
$16.8 billion in grants for special education for grades K-12.
$11.9 billion for "climate and clean energy research."
$4.7 billion for the Department of Homeland Security for migration surge at the U.S.-Mexico border.
$842 billion (3.2% increase from FY2023) for Defense to "sustain and strengthen deterrence" of adversaries and aims at outpacing China.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) responded to the unveiling of Biden’s plan with:
McCarthy’s budget proposal for FY 2024 will not be ready anytime soon. It’s not like Biden’s wish list can ever pass through the House under a Republican majority.
Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, a former roommate of Republican House Rep. George Santos (NY) who was charged in Seattle for running a credit card skimming operation, in a sworn declaration to federal authorities, confessed that Santos was the mastermind of it all.
“I, Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, do hereby declare under penalty of perjury, as provided under 28 U.S. Code sections 1746 et seq., and the laws of the United States of America, that the foregoing is true and correct:
I am a Brazilian national and was accused of a US federal crime in 2017 of credit card fraud, pled guilty and was deported from the United States.
Isaw Congressman George Santos, also known to me as Anthony Devolder, when I s a w him recently on television. I know him.
In 2016, I met Santos when I rented a room in his apartment in Florida.”
Read the full copy of the declaration obtained by POLITICO.
Trelha served seven months in jail before being deported back to Brazil after pleading guilty to felony access device fraud.
2024 Presidential Race
Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) privately said he plans to run for president, according to two people who were present. The super PAC, Never Back Down, has been looking forward to Ron announcing his bid. Still, he will most likely make an official announcement "after the Florida state legislative session ends in May." DeSantis, who has branded himself as the warrior of his culture war against the "woke," will have trouble with voters outside of Florida.
A new USA TODAY/Ipsos poll found that 56% of Americans find the term "woke" as a compliment, including 51% of independents. 39% of Republicans believe the term means "to be overly politically correct" or to "police others' words." Most say it means being informed about social injustices "rather than being overly politically correct."
On the Democratic side, Marianne Williamson, who unsuccessfully ran in 2020, announced her longshot presidential bid last week. Williamson has a history of being a vaccine skeptic.
ICYMI:
Last week, four Americans drove into Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas, for a medical procedure and were abducted by armed cartel members. Two died. The “Gulf Cartel Grupo Escorpiones” then apologized for mistakenly targeting them for Haitian drug smugglers and “decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline,” a letter by the cartel reads. (AP)
