The House of Representatives passed a 440-page tax bill Thursday that was introduced two short weeks ago. Among other things, the bill would remove deductions important to people with big medical expenses and college tuitions and ultimately hit hardest those making $75,000 or less.
The bill was supported by all but thirteen Republicans and no Democrats - even though it will affect every individual and business in America.
The Senate hopes to passtheir version of a tax bill after Thanksgiving, which so far, includes repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. President Trump wants to pass a tax bill by year's end, despite public dissatisfaction with the current plans and significant differences between the House and Senate bills.
Also this hour: Two senate Democrats introduced legislation last week that would prohibit any president, current and future, from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress. Is it a good idea?
Lastly, public outcry over a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to end a 2014 government ban on hunting elephants in Zimbabwe and Zambia led the president to put a hold on the ban until further review. This, at the same time a lawyer is seeking "personhood" status for three elephants living in Connecticut.
GUESTS:
- Heather Long - Economics correspondent for the Washington Post
- Fred Kaplan - Writes the "War Stories" column for Slate magazine and is the author of several books including most recently, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War.
- Virginia Morell - Correspondent for Science magazine, and the author of four books, most recently, Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Feelings of our Fellow Creatures.
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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.