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Democrats are calling for harsh new punishments on companies that outsource jobs and a crackdown on currency manipulation, embracing a more populist economic agenda as they seek to win back control of Congress in next year's midterm elections.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is slated to announce the plan Wednesday morning with fellow party Rust Belt lawmakers such as Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana.

It represents the second phase of Democrats' new platform dubbed "A Better Deal" aimed squarely at the blue-collar workers that helped propel President Donald Trump to victory.

"This plan would level the playing field for American workers by ensuring our workers aren't competing in a race to the bottom on wages and labor protections," strategy documents state.

Democrats' proposals include penalizing businesses that move jobs or their headquarters out of the United States. Companies would have to pay a corporate tax rate of 35 percent on any profits held overseas before relocating. Currently, businesses are able to defer those taxes until the money is brought back to the country.

Companies would also be prevented from deducting the expense of moving those jobs. On the other hand, businesses that bring jobs back to America would receive a tax credit for 20 percent of those costs.

Government contractors would face more stringent requirements under Democrats' plan, including a public "shame list" for those that regularly send jobs overseas. In addition, the proposal would require companies that outsource to add as much as 10 percent to their estimated costs, making them less competitive.

"U.S. companies need incentives to in-source production that has already been lost and be forced to pay an exit tax when outsourcing" the documents read.

The proposal also tackles one of Trump's favorite targets: China. Democrats are calling for a new law that would allow the federal government to impose duties on countries that undervalue their currency a move essentially directed at China. Under the existing system, only the Treasury Department can designate a nation as manipulating its currency.

Schumer has long been a vocal critic of China's currency and trade policies, and Democrats have traditionally been skeptical of the benefits of globalization. But Trump appealed to working-class voters particularly in typically blue states by breaking with Republican orthodoxy and verbally pummeling America's largest trading partner.

Some of the proposals in Democrats' new platform echo not only Trump's campaign promises, but efforts already underway in his administration: renegotiate NAFTA, create a "jobs security" council and tighten rules requiring the federal government to buy American. The plan would also establish an independent trade prosecutor.

Democrats are set to announce the new trade agenda amid reports in The Wall Street Journal and Axios that the White House is readying aggressive new enforcement actions against China for intellectual property theft.

Trump has also recently stepped up his rhetoric against the country as progress appears stalled on a hundred-days plan on trade and economic issues while North Korea ramps up ballistic missile tests.

"I am very disappointed in China," Trump wrote in two tweets last week. "Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!"

Democrats began rolling out their "Better Deal" agenda last week with vows to scrutinize big corporate mergers and bring down prescription drug prices. The platform is also expected to include proposals on the cost of higher education and infrastructure.

Link:
Democrats call for new 'outsourcing tax' - CNBC

Its true that the left will have to choose (and soon) between absolute ideological purity and the huge numbers required to seize the rudder of the nation and avert global catastrophe. But abortion is not valid fodder for such compromise, nor is racism, nor is L.G.B.T.Q. equality, nor is any issue that puts peoples fundamental humanity up for debate. Abortion is not a fringe issue. Abortion is liberty.

I hear from some people on the left that Donald Trumps victory was at least partially the fault of identity politics of feminists pushing too hard, of Black Lives Matter being too aggressive, of trans people needing to go to the bathroom as though the violent suppression of a movement points more toward its irrelevance than its necessity. What the Democrats need to do, I often hear, is to move away from issues of identity and toward purer, broader issues of economic equality.

But there is no model of economic equality that does not reckon with identity politics. There is no economic equality without the ability to terminate a pregnancy. There is no economic equality without the overthrow of white supremacy. What good is an economic opportunity if large swaths of the population cant access it? Telling minority groups that its their responsibility to sit back and wait, to subordinate their needs for the good of the party that implies that the party is not theirs as much as everyone elses. And it sounds a lot like the people were trying to defeat.

Abortion is normal. Abortion is common, necessary and happening every day across party lines, economic lines and religious lines. Abortion is also legal and, contrary to what the pundit economy would have you believe, not particularly controversial. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 70 percent of all Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, while 75 percent of Democrats believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. These are not numbers that indicate controversy.

Yes, abortion does draw certain groups to the polls. Trumps success among evangelicals can almost certainly be attributed to their belief that he will appoint justices who will bring about the end of Roe v. Wade (a promise that, it seems, with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, he intends to fulfill). But that is why Republicans vote; its not why Democrats vote.

Abortion is not controversial on the left. So what does it say that so many lefty men are willing to scrap it in an attempt to pander to some vague fantasy of a vast, disgruntled, anti-choice center? What kind of cringing, bewildered invertebrates roll over and capitulate to the losing side of a debate at a time when theyve never had more leverage? What contortionist of logic came up with the proposal that alienating 75 percent of ones constituents, and declaring half to not deserve control over their bodies, can strengthen a partys numbers? This is not broadening our coalition; its flagrantly shrinking it.

There has never been a more opportune moment for the Democratic Party to demand compromise not from the left but from the center. What are anti-choice Democrats going to do? Become Republicans? Now? Jump into the abattoir of clown meat whose top policy priority seems to be poor people deserve to die of preventable diseases?

Come on, Democrats. Be something. Unite and move left. The center will follow or lose.

The rest is here:
Of Course Abortion Should Be a Litmus Test for Democrats - New York Times

Wichita Eagle

How will Brownback's departure affect Democrats? Not much, they say Wichita Eagle Kansas Democrats are preparing for the departure of arguably their biggest foe Gov. Sam Brownback by staying the course. Brownback was nominated by President Donald Trump last week to be ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. and more »

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How will Brownback's departure affect Democrats? Not much, they say - Wichita Eagle

TheWhite House budget director on Wednesday said tax reform looks "weaker" with Democrats on it.

During an interview on "Fox & Friends," Mick Mulvaney was asked if he thinks Republicans can get tax reform passed without needing Democrats' votes.

"You have a choice. You can either try and do it with 50 votes in the Senate, using what's called budget reconciliation, or 60 votes in the Senate without," he said.

Mulvaney said tax reform is necessary to get the American economy back at 3 percent economic growth.

"That's absolutely critical, and tax reform is a central feature in that," he said.

His comments come after Senate Democrats earlier this week urged Republicans to work with them on bipartisan tax reform.

In a letter addressed to President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Finance Committee ChairmanOrrin Hatch (R-Utah), Senate Democratsexpressed "interest in working with you on bipartisan tax reform." The letter said by working together, lawmakers could modernize the country's tax system.

See the article here:
OMB director: Tax reform looks 'weaker' with Democrats on it - The Hill

The survey shows a generic Democrat leading a generic Republican, 44 percent to 37 percent, with 19 percent of registered voters undecided. | Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Republicans trail Democrats by 7 percentage points on the generic congressional ballot, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, the Democratic Party's greatest advantage on the generic ballot since the poll began asking the question this past spring.

The survey, conducted last Thursday through Saturday, shows a generic Democrat leading a generic Republican, 44 percent to 37 percent, with 19 percent of registered voters undecided. The two parties were tied, 40 percent apiece, in the previous weeks poll.

Story Continued Below

The results came on the heels of a week in which the GOP effort to repeal Obamacare crashed and burned in the Senate and President Donald Trumps chief of staff left the White House abruptly.

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Democrats previous high-water mark on the generic ballot question which asks voters which party they would support in a congressional election without mentioning specific candidate names had been a 6-point lead in early May.

Democratic voters back the Democratic candidate by an almost-unanimous margin, 90 percent to 2 percent. Republicans are slightly less unified, supporting the GOP candidate, 85 percent to 5 percent. Among independents, the Democrat leads, 34 percent to 25 percent, with 41 percent undecided.

Even as the GOP slumped on the generic ballot, Trumps approval ratings held fairly steady over the past week. In the new poll, 42 percent of voters approve of the job he is doing as president, while 53 percent disapprove. Last week, 43 percent of voters approved of Trump, and 52 percent disapproved.

Still, the long-term trend for Trump has been downward and it has the potential to drag down Republicans in elections this year and into the 2018 midterms.

"In our poll taken immediately following President Trump's inauguration, 31 percent of independent voters disapproved of him," said Morning Consult Co-founder and Chief Research Officer Kyle Dropp. "In this latest poll, that number has nearly doubled to 56 percent. What's more, the percentage of voters who 'strongly' disapprove has jumped from 23 percent to 41 percent in that same time period."

That slide connects to the GOPs electoral prospects. Among voters who strongly approve of Trump in the new poll, 79 percent of them prefer the Republican congressional candidate, while 8 percent would vote for the Democrat. By contrast, 80 percent of voters who strongly disapprove of Trump would vote for the Democrat, and 8 percent would back the Republican.

The problem for Republicans: While 41 percent of the electorate strongly disapproves of Trump, far fewer, only 22 percent, strongly approve of his job performance.

Intensity isn't the only worry for the GOP: There is the basic fact that more voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing than approve. In the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, 71 percent of voters who approve of Trump's job performance even somewhat would vote for the Republican candidate, compared to 72 percent of those who disapprove who are backing the Democrat.

The new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted during a tumultuous close to the week for Trump and his party. The poll was already in the field early Friday morning, when the Senate voted down the latest GOP bill to repeal parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Similarly, some interviews had already been conducted when Trump announced that he was replacing Chief of Staff Reince Priebus with John Kelly, the now-former secretary of homeland security.

Previously released poll results show a majority of voters believe the Trump White House is running chaotically, even before some of the most recent turnover.

The poll was fielded after Trump sharply criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions in public comments and on Twitter. A 53-percent majority of voters say Trumps statement that he would not have appointed Sessions if he knew the then-senator would later recuse himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election is inappropriate; only 27 percent say Trumps comments are appropriate.

In another controversial statement last week, Trump announced on Twitter that the U.S. would not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in the military, though any transgender ban has yet to take effect. Voters generally disagree with Trump: By a 68 percent to 21 percent margin, voters believe the U.S. should allow transgender members of the military to continue serving. And 55 percent say the military should allow transgender individuals to join, while only 31 percent say they should be barred from joining.

Sixty-seven percent of voters do say, however, that the military shouldnt pay for gender-transition expenses, compared to only 21 percent who think the military should pay for that treatment. Trump cited tremendous medical costs for transgender personnel in explaining his decision.

The poll surveyed 1,972 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents Toplines: http://politi.co/2vbZQxk | Crosstabs: http://politi.co/2vmabHg

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Poll: Democrats surge ahead on generic ballot - Politico