Buffett Rule Is Back
The Buffett Rule is back in play inside in the beltway. Author of last year’s signature piece of progressive legislation in Congress, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse announced today that his 2012 Paying A Fair Share Act, aka the Buffett Rule bill, will be a component in Senate Democrats plan stave off the sequester. It’s a common-sense [...]
Sheldon Introduced Two of 2012 Most Important Bills
How important was the Ocean State’s own Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to the national progressive agenda in 2012? Two bills he sponsored in the year that was were flagged by ThinkProgress as being among the five most important pieces of legislation blocked by Republicans. Whitehouse’s DISCLOSE Act (which RI Future was the first news organization to [...]
Whitehouse Says Buffett Rule Will Be Back
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has said all along that it would likely take several votes before Democrats could break the hold that Wall Street special interests hold over their republican counterparts and such seems like the fate for the Buffet Rule, which was successfully filibustered Monday on its first vote on the Senate floor. “I’ll keep [...]
RI Progress Report: Patriot’s Day/ Buffett Rule Edition
Mayors Don Grebien, of Pawtucket, and Leo Fontaine, of Woonsocket, write an op/ed together in today’s Projo about their lawsuit against the state that contends that RIDE should move quicker to bridge the giant funding gap that exists between the affluent suburbs and the poorer inner cities in Rhode Island. It’s an issue that we’ve [...]
Whitehouse’s Buffett Rule Up for Senate Vote Today
After a solid week of Democrats making Sheldon Whitehouse’s Buffett Rule bill the biggest legislative priority in the country, the Senate today will take up the proposal. Seems as if the efforts may pay off as a new Gallup Poll shows that 60 percent of Americans support it. Today’s vote is a motion to proceed [...]
RI Progress Report: Buffett Rule, New Baykeeper, Ahlquist
As the Senate takes up the Buffett Rule on Monday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, and reportedly Sen. Jack Reed too, will be rallying for his bill today. Whitehouse, who is sponsoring the high-profile legislation that would ensure millionaires pay at least 30 percent tax on their income, will meet activists, union members and other Rhode Islanders [...]
RI Progress Report: Congrats to Tear and Ryherd
Congratulations to Allan Tear and Soren Ryherd, who will each be awarded innovation fellowships from the Rhode Island Foundation. The two entrepreneurs will receive grants for $300,000 over the next three years for their winning projects that will – hopefully – help revitalize Rhode Island’s struggling economy. David Cicilline apologizes for misleading voters about the [...]
The Buffett Rule: Your Straight Deal on Taxes
Back in 1985, President Ronald Reagan said: “We’re going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that have allowed some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share.” Almost three decades later, we’re still hearing about ultra-high income earners like Warren Buffett paying a lower tax rate than his secretary. According to the IRS, [...]
Wall St. Will Fight Buffett Rule, Whitehouse Says
Wall Street lobbyists and associated special interest groups will be the biggest obstacle to passage of the Buffett Rule bill when the Senate takes it up in one week, said the legislation’s prime sponsor, Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. “I think Wall Street is going to be in on this with all of its energy,” [...]
Cicilline Calls for House Passage of Buffett Rule Bill
Congressman David Cicilline has joined the Buffett Rule movement, calling on Speaker John Boehner to pass the House version of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s Paying A Fair Share Legislation. “Under current tax laws, working men and women may be asked to pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than wealthy individuals, many of whom [...]
Obama Plugs Whitehouse’s ‘Buffett Rule’ Bill
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s “Buffett Rule” bill got a big boost today as President Obama, long a fan of the proposal, focused his weekly address on the legislation that would prevent millionaires from shielding their earnings from income taxes. “Now, some people call this class warfare,” Obama said. “But I think asking a billionaire to pay [...]
Senator Whitehouse explains the Buffett Rule
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, sponsor the so-called Buffett Rule, sat down with the Center for American Progress to discuss his bill for a mandatory income tax rate of 30 percent for millionaires. “Regular folks,” he said, think politics has become rigged to favor the richest Americans “and that’s a bad framework for people to be looking [...]
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