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Paul Ryan Tag

Speaker Paul Ryan doesn't have a car. Not after a family of hungry woodchucks moved into the undercarriage of his Suburban and snacked on the vehicle's electrical system. During an event at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. Thursday, outgoing Speaker of the House Paul talked about life after D.C., which will now include car shopping.

Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock used a bump stock attachment when he murdered 58 people. Following the massacre, lawmakers of all political stripes, gun control groups, and even gun rights groups like the NRA agreed the bump stock, which enables rapid fire shooting on some semi-automatic rifles, was not fit for public use. “Fully automatic weapons have been outlawed for many, many years. This seems to be a way of going around that, so obviously we need to look how we can tighten up the compliance with this law so that fully automatic weapons are banned," said Speaker Ryan at the time.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) spoke to CNBC today about financial situations that Congress will face once lawmakers return from their recess. In the interview, Ryan expressed the same views on the debt ceiling as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY):
 the Wisconsin Republican told CNBC from a Boeing factory in Washington state, where he was promoting tax reform.

After an ill-informed news cycle blaming the Speaker of the House for a 'sexist' dress code that was implemented long before he took control of the gavel, Paul Ryan is working to bring the dress code into modernity. As it stands, women aren't permitted to wear open-toed shoes or sleeveless dresses. And men are required to wear jackets and ties. Yet, it's only the women's dress code that's suffered sexist accusations.

Healthcare reform has taken center stage once again, but tax reform still lurks in the background. It's yet another issue that Congressional Republicans cannot agree on, mainly on the border adjustment tax. But there's a tax deduction the Republicans may eliminate that could cause problems and possible resistance among lawmakers, including within the party: interest deduction. The Wall Street Journal has pointed out that taking away "the deduction that companies get for interest they pay on debt" affects everyone from those on Wall Street "to wheat farmers in the Midwest looking to make ends meet before harvest."

THEY DO EXIST! Yes, Congress still has Blue Dog Democrats within its walls. The group consists of only 18 members, but it could be enough to push tax reform through this year. These Democrats view themselves as ones who can help "broker a bipartisan deal." The Hill reported:
“If it’s constructive, if they’re genuinely interested in ideas and making it a bipartisan effort, then the Blue Dogs are certainly willing to participate,” said Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), a member of the group.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) will not let go of a border adjustment tax (BAT) when it comes to tax reform, which will set up a major showdown with the White House and possibly the Senate. Ryan admitted today that the House could pass a tax bill without the BAT, but he's still trying to sell the idea to his fellow lawmakers and the White House.

High ranking Republicans are joining the fight for Georgia's sixth Congressional district. Vacated by former Rep. Tom Price when he left to serve as HHS secretary, Democrats have made the special election a referendum on President Trump's presidential performance thus far. Speaker Paul Ryan will head to Georgia to headline a May 15 Handel campaign event.

House Republicans held meetings late into Tuesday night, hoping to find some consensus on health insurance reform before the upcoming recess to no avail. By all accounts, there's still no other Obamacare repeal plan and so lawmakers, including Vice President Pence, are still trying to make the failed American Healthcare Act (AHCA) work.

The Senate Intelligence Committee held its first hearing on possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election and its "information warfare." It was revealed that hackers targeted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) during his presidential campaign:
"Former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to the internal information of my presidential campaign were targeted by IP addresses with an unknown location within Russia," Rubio said Thursday. "That effort was unsuccessful. I would also inform the committee within the last 24 hours, at 10:45 a.m. yesterday, a second attempt was made, again, against former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to our internal information -- again targeted from an IP address from an unknown location in Russia. And that effort was also unsuccessful."

Now that the GOP healthcare bill is dead, the administration will more than likely set its eyes on tax reform. However, this could very well end like the healthcare bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) insisted that the party has "more agreement" when it comes to tax reform while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin explained that the "plan to overhaul the U.S. tax code would face smoother sailing" than healthcare. Oh really?

"Repeal and replace" has been the GOP mantra since the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare, was signed into law in 2010. Riding the wave of horror and outrage that inspired millions of Americans to rise up and rally, attend town halls, and become involved in the election process, the GOP has enjoyed enormous gains not only at the federal but at the state and local level across the nation.  They all understand how important this moment is to the Republican party, and they all comprehend that they have one chance to get this right. What is not clear is how much they get about the need for substantive changes to those parts of ObamaCare they can tackle with only a simple majority in the Senate.  As the prof noted, they are somewhat restricted in what they can do unilaterally; without a supermajority in the Senate, there are parts of ObamaCare that cannot be "fixed" via budget reconciliation.

House Republicans desperately want to reform taxes, but so far the only plan they have developed has gained no leverage. That's because border adjustment makes up a majority of the plan, which few, including top retailers, want anything to do with. The border adjustment is a tariff. It adds a tax on imports, which will inevitably raise prices on consumers. Common sense economics: A business must make a profit in order to supply goods and services. It cannot do that without money. In order to make money when a tax is added or raised, the business must raise the price on its goods in order to make that profit.

The process of repealing President Obama's signature legislation is already underway. Early Thursday morning, the Senate passed what they're calling a "repeal resolution" or the first step in repealing the Affordable Care Act. The vote fell perfectly along party lines:
The Senate voted 51-48 along party lines for the measure, which relies on the same budget process used seven years ago to approve the landmark healthcare law to now attempt to dismantle it.