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Trump, GOP Barrel Towards Tax Cuts

Trump heads To Capitol Hill with clear message: Pass A Tax Cut. NPR: "Marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to send a message to Congress is a classic move in presidential political theater, and today is President Trump's inaugural performance. Trump makes his first visit to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans at their weekly meeting and the message is clear: Pass a tax cut. On this issue—more than any other currently facing the GOP—the party is overwhelmingly unified. Lawmakers are eager to see the president embrace their upcoming tax legislation and to help the party make the case to the public for a plan that aims to cut taxes for American businesses and most individual taxpayers. After that, it could get awkward."

DeVos Cuts Guidelines to Protect Disabled Students

DeVos rescinds 72 guidance documents outlining rights for disabled students. WaPo:"The Education Department has rescinded 72 policy documents that outline the rights of students with disabilities as part of the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate regulations it deems superfluous. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services wrote in a newsletter Friday that it had 'a total of 72 guidance documents that have been rescinded due to being outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective — 63 from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and 9 from the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).' The documents, which fleshed out students’ rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act, were rescinded Oct. 2."

Feds Acknowledges Cost of Climate Change Inaction

GAO say Trump's inaction on climate change carries a big price tag. LA Times: "The Trump administration’s reluctance to confront climate change threatens to create a massive burden on taxpayers, as a lack of planning by federal agencies leaves the government ill-equipped to deal with the fallout from rising temperatures, according to independent congressional investigators. The report released Tuesday from the Government Accountability Office presents a bleak picture in which the economic costs of climate change spiral ever further upward in the coming decades. While the report finds that coordination among federal agencies in confronting climate change has long been inadequate, it now comes at a time when the White House is making an unprecedented retreat on environmental protection."

Wall Street Vies For Influence Over Democrats

Do Democrats really need Wall Street? Common Dreams: "We might in fact start remembering that we are descended from revolutionaries, radicals, socialists, progressives, populists, labor unionists, feminists and civil rights and environmental activists who made America truly great by refusing to bow to the powerful and wealthy and instead fighting to extend and deepen freedom, equality and democracy. The poet Carl Sandburg spoke lyrically of that possibility 100 years ago: When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer forget…"

More from OurFuture.org:

Why Dems Need To Ignore Wall Street’s Advice for the Party. Robert Borosage: "As the Democratic Party finds itself in the wilderness, the Wall Streeters are trying to argue that they have a way out. We shouldn't listen, when austerity and deregulation have left millions of Americans struggling to stay afloat. Big money perverts our democracy, period."

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