First Draft on Politics: Tax Plan Clears Hurdle

Even as the Republican plan advanced in the Senate, President Trump stoked fears of a government shutdown. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, November 29, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [President Trump met Tuesday with Republican senators, including the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, right, to discuss the tax overhaul.]( President Trump met Tuesday with Republican senators, including the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, right, to discuss the tax overhaul. Doug Mills/The New York Times Good Wednesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - [Republicans took a significant step]( on Tuesday toward passing a sweeping tax overhaul, clearing the way for a full Senate vote later in the week. A flurry of last-minute deals helped sway a few party members who had expressed concerns about the $1.5 trillion package, including its treatment of small businesses and its effect on the deficit. - Less than two weeks before much of the government runs out of money, [the president escalated the threat]( of a shutdown. - After sinking his party’s hopes of repealing the Affordable Care Act earlier this year, Senator John McCain, the Republican from Arizona, [may hold the fate of the tax bill]( in his hands. - President Trump is said [to still be casting doubt]( on the validity of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which he made vulgar comments about women. His changing story, as well as his shifting views on how sexual harassment claims should be treated, have stunned advisers. - Some House Democrats hope the harassment scandal that cost Representative John Conyers Jr. his Judiciary Committee post [could hasten other changes](. - [A federal judge denied an emergency request]( on behalf of an Obama-era holdover who disputed Mr. Trump’s decision to appoint a new acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. 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[• Buy Tickets »]( FROM THE MAGAZINE [How Far Will Sean Hannity Go?]( By MATTHEW SHAER Christopher Griffith for The New York Times Sean Hannity, the Fox News host who is willing to defend President Trump at all costs, and who reaches more than 13 million people a day, rarely grants interviews to mainstream reporters, whom he calls “disgustingly biased, ideological and corrupt.” But he suspects that his critics willfully misunderstand his motivations. “People don't know what drives me, what energizes me,” he said. And in October, when asked for a tour of his hometown, Franklin Square, on Long Island, he enthusiastically agreed.  [Read more »](  [Anthony Scaramucci in Jerusalem last week. He resigned from an advisory board at his alma mater, Tufts University, after threatening to sue the student newspaper there.]( [Scaramucci Quits Tufts Board After Tangling With Student Paper]( By MAGGIE ASTOR Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, said he was stepping down to spare Tufts, his alma mater, unnecessary scrutiny. But he stood by his threat of legal action against a student journalist. [Insiders Accused of Stealing Personal Data From Homeland Security]( By NICHOLAS FANDOS AND RON NIXON Employees from the agency’s inspector general’s office wanted to modify and sell their own version of proprietary government software, according to investigators. [President Trump named his budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a bid to take control of the agency just hours after its departing leader had taken steps to install his own choice for acting chief.]( Fact Check [Is the Consumer Bureau ‘Unaccountable’ and Ineffective?]( By LINDA QIU Critics of the agency are exaggerating when they say the agency is “completely unaccountable” and adds little to consumer protection. [G.O.P. Says $1.5 Trillion Tax Bill Pays for Itself, but Experts Disagree]( By JUGAL K. PATEL AND ALICIA PARLAPIANO There is no consensus among economists about the amount of growth that would occur under the plan, but key models predict it would not cover its cost. [Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson spoke Tuesday at a Woodrow Wilson Center event in Washington.]( [Tillerson Takes Offense at Claims of Hollowing Out State Department]( By GARDINER HARRIS Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson was offended by accusations that he has hollowed out his department, even though he wants to cut its budget by a third. [Robert E. Murray, founder and president of Murray Energy, a major coal producer, speaking at the hearing on plans to repeal the Clean Power Plan.]( [E.P.A. Heads to Coal Country to Hear Views on an Obama Climate Rule]( By JOHN SCHWARTZ A public hearing in West Virginia was a required step before undoing the Clean Power Plan. One expert said the venue “does not denote a keen interest in alternative views.” [The United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked in September 2012.]( [Libyan Convicted of Terrorism in Benghazi Attacks but Not Murder]( By ADAM GOLDMAN AND CHARLIE SAVAGE Ahmed Abu Khattala was the first person charged and prosecuted in the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, including an ambassador. [A still image from a 2005 video in which Donald J. Trump was recorded having a lewd conversation with Billy Bush, top left, an “Access Hollywood” host.]( [‘Access Hollywood’ Tells Trump: ‘The Tape Is Very Real’]( By DANIEL VICTOR The show’s host responded to the president’s suggestion that the recording of his lewd comments was not authentic: “He said every one of those words.” [Since joining the Fed, Jerome Powell, the nominee to be the next chairman, has voted in favor of every policy decision — both monetary policy and regulatory policy.]( [Nominee for Fed Leadership Sees Continuity if Confirmed]( By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM Jerome H. Powell, nominated to be the Fed’s next chairman, told senators he would continue the bank’s current path of monetary and regulatory policies. [Millions Pay the Obamacare Penalty Instead of Buying Insurance. Who Are They?]( By K.K. REBECCA LAI AND ALICIA PARLAPIANO The Senate Republican tax bill includes the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, the requirement that all Americans buy qualifying health insurance or pay a penalty. [What the Tax Bill Would Look Like for 25,000 Middle-Class Families]( By QUOCTRUNG BUI AND BEN CASSELMAN We modeled taxes for 25,000 middle-class families. Here’s how the Senate bill would affect them. [The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, with two scientists — Ri Hong-sop, second from left, and Hong Sung-mu, right — in Pyongyang in September.]( [North Korea Fires a Ballistic Missile, in a Further Challenge to Trump]( By MARK LANDLER, CHOE SANG-HUN AND HELENE COOPER The missile flew higher than previous launches, and came despite President Trump’s warnings to the North. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss Read about how the other side thinks. We have collected political writing from around the web and across ideologies. From the Right [David Harsanyi]( in [The Federalist]( “Republicans have long argued that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is corrupt, unaccountable and unconstitutional. This week, Democrats proved that’s exactly how they like it.” The chaos emerging from the agency could not come at a better time, Mr. Harsanyi writes. The conflict over who will helm the bureau is a perfect opportunity for the Trump administration to start “seriously diminishing the power and reach of the agency, and perhaps eliminate it altogether.” He points out what he sees as “norm-busting” hypocrisy on the left, writing, “Democrats are now arguing that their favored bureaucrat should be able to wrest control of a law-enforcement agency because they’re unhappy with the outcome of the last election.” [Read more »]( _____ From the Left [Margaret Hartmann]( in [New York magazine]( “One way or another, it seems Trump is going to be gutting the C.F.P.B.” Even if Leandra English prevails in court, Ms. Hartmann writes, it is unlikely that the agency will function as it was intended to. President Trump will appoint a permanent director in a “matter of weeks” and the Republican Senate is likely to confirm anyone he picks. [Read more »]( _____ [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. 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