“I don’t know if I can live on my income or not,” comic strip writer Bob Thaves joked. “The government won’t let me try it.” But Republicans might, if their twin tax plans can survive the twists and turns of a House and Senate debate. A good House plan got even better, thanks to House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX), who heeded conservatives’ concerns and honed the language on the Johnson Amendment, adoption tax credit, and marriage penalties. After some thoughtful revisions, his bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is headed to the floor as early as today.

If there’s trouble ahead, House leaders are confident it won’t be on their side of the Capitol. “It’s probably the most unified we’ve been in a while,” Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) told reporters about Thursday’s vote. “We all have our issues, and we know the Senate is going to do something different. But I think everyone is very focused, and we know we need to get this thing done.”

Collins was right about the Senate doing something different. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced that Republicans were tweaking their bill to take on an old foe: the Obamacare individual mandate. In a major departure from their first draft (and the House plan), GOP leaders decided this was the perfect time to attack the IRS’s punishment for Americans who refuse to buy insurance. In doing so, Hatch argued, “We not only ease the financial burdens already associated with the mandate, but also generate additional revenue to provide more tax relief to [middle-class] individuals.” The benefits are two-fold: taxpayers aren’t fined for making a personal decision about health care, and the Senate has more money to offset other tax reforms.

That’s key for Republicans, who unlike the House are working under much stricter budget rules. Under the reconciliation process (which lets them pass the bill with a simple majority instead of the regular 60), GOP leaders have to find a way to “pay for” their plan, and zapping the individual mandate would free up about $338 billion over the next 10 years. Sen. Hatch knows that if fewer people are forced to buy insurance then fewer people will be applying for federal subsidies to pay for it. That saves GOP leaders a lot of money, which it’s decided to use for an even better causes: like the child tax credit.

Thanks to the persistence of Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), the modified Senate bill doubles the child tax credit to $2,000 from the initial $1,650. FRC, along with other conservatives, had been pushing for this increase for months. Now, that work is paying off. “Good news for working families,” Rubio tweeted. “The Senate #TaxCut bill now has #ChildTaxCredit at 2K. We are making progress.” Hopefully, the GOP finds a way to make the change permanent, since the text, as it’s currently written under reconciliation rules, would expire in 2025.

The Left’s pro-abortion crowd has gone hysterical over an education tax deduction, the ability of expectant parents’ to contribute to their future children’s education. The Left insists that this is some radical new way of undermining abortion, which is interesting since it has nothing to do with it. Yet still, NARAL calls it “dangerous” to let families save for college early. Affirming this language, claims Ilyse Hogue, would “lay the foundation for ‘personhood,’ the idea that life begins at conception thus granting a fetus in utero legal rights.” But guess what? That foundation was already laid in the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which, Hogue may be interested to know, uses the same terminology.

As most people know, the real debate on these provisions will be in three weeks or so, when the two chambers conference together and hash out their differences. Until then, Americans will watch and wait — hoping, as we all do, that Republicans can finally offer families some much-needed relief from Uncle Sam.

Originally published here.

U.S. Strayed by USAID

Donald Trump expected to fight plenty of liberals over his agenda, but his own administration? That’s a challenge most people never saw coming. But even now, deep into the president’s first year, Barack Obama’s footprint on offices like USAID still loom large.

That’s a serious problem — not just for the administration but for millions of men and women around the world. Having just returned from the Middle East, I understand how urgent the needs of Christians and other religious minorities are. Our delegation talked with church leaders, toured a Syrian refugee camp, and met extensively with government officials in Jordan and Egypt — all of whom are looking to the U.S. for help. Help that Vice President Mike Pence had assured the world was coming.

After years of letting the UN decide how U.S. dollars were spent on crises such as this, the vice president announced last month that America was taking back control of certain aid programs (which were administered too slowly or ineffectively to do any good). “We will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and minorities in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups,” Pence explained. “The United States will work hand in hand from this day forward with faith-based groups and private organizations to help those who are persecuted for their faith. This is the moment, now is the time, and America will support these people in their hour of need.”

Unfortunately for Mike Pence and the entire persecuted church, USAID hasn’t exactly been eager to do the administration’s bidding — a problem highlighted this week by Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. Accusing it of “dragging its feet,” Ingraham said USAID was a “deeply entrenched government bureaucracy” that, like other agencies, is struggling under the influence of Obama holdovers. “Why are parts of the government defying the president’s orders?” she asked Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX). The Texas representative called it a “deep state” at work and said it was time for Congress to “step up to the plate” and deal with it.

Our sources inside USAID agree with the congressman’s assessment and say a complete retooling of the office is needed. Another means of helping those who are being persecuted for their faith is for the U.S. Senate to finally confirm Gov. Sam Brownback as the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. For weeks, he’s been waiting for an up-or-down vote, while our brothers and sisters abroad suffer. It’s time to end the obstruction — both at USAID and the U.S. Senate — and get to work accomplishing the president’s goal of a freer, safer world for everyone.

Originally published here.

Bible Speeches Make the Week Strong

Can you imagine if NBC invited Christians on air to read the Bible all day long? Believe it or not, that’s exactly how the National Broadcasting Company wanted to celebrate President Franklin Roosevelt’s first National Bible Week. Unfortunately for the radio station, the 24-hour reading, scheduled for Dec. 7, 1941, never happened. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor did instead.

Although the plans were interrupted by one of the worst attacks on American soil, the National Bible Association adapted. And in-between reports of the tragedy, members of the group streamed into the studio to read Scripture that was broadcast across America during breaks in the war coverage.

Now, 76 years later, the country still honors the tradition started during those dark days of World War II. And Tuesday, Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) held a special order on the House floor to remind us why.

“There are many places throughout the world, unfortunately, where such freedoms do not exist. Americans have the right, under our wonderful system of government, to respect and study the Bible, or any other system of belief, if they so choose, or even no belief at all. That is the beauty of the American way, and I believe it is founded and goes back to the Bible.

"As we celebrate National Bible Week, we remember the importance of faith in both our private and public lives. We recognize the Bible’s powerful message of hope. We cherish the wisdom of the Bible, and we thank God for providing this Holy Book that has truly been, in the words of the Scripture, ‘a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.’”

Congressman Lamborn was joined by nine members in commemorating the role of the Bible in American life: Reps. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Kristi Noem (R-SD), Mike Johnson (R-LA), Tim Walberg (R-MS), Mike Conaway (R-TX), Ron Estes (R-KS), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Rick Allen (R-GA), and David Rouzer (R-NC). They urged Americans, in this time of intense division, to see the Bible as a tool to unite us. “The statistics,” Rep. LaMalfa pointed out, “are that every home has 2.2 Bibles, on average. It isn’t that there aren’t enough Bibles. It is that people don’t open it often enough.”

Others talked about the deep personal meaning the Bible has. “It’s more than a historic book,” Vicky Hartzler said, “although it is. And it’s more than a collection of wise advice and spell-bounding stories, which it is. It has the audacity to claim something radical and all-inspiring at the same time. It claims to be the Word of God… and, as a result, it changes lives… I want to invite anyone who has never read it to read it and to discover God’s plan and purpose for your life which will give you power and peace. So let this most radical book ever written touch and bless your life.”

Rep. Walberg echoed her sentiment, explaining that the Bible “changed my life as well [after I admitted] personally that I was a sinner in need of a savior… Now, some might reject this. That’s okay. But most who seek the truth of the Bible are not disappointed.”

Toward the end of the special order, Rep. Johnson reminded Congress that they’re all brought together by this one common belief. “I love the words that are inscribed above the Speaker, where it says in the marble: ‘In God We Trust.’ There’s a reason for that. Our Founders understood that this is our foundation.” And thanks to men and women like these, it will continue to be. We’re deeply grateful for members of Congress who not only value the Bible but look to it in making some of the most important decisions of our day.

Originally published here.

---

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.