“THE PRESIDENT’S CHRISTMAS GIFT TO AMERICA”

- Ed Feulner in The Washington Times

Writing in The Washington Times about congressional Republicans’ tax plan, Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner asks, “What’s not to like?”

“Most Americans would receive a significant cut,” Feulner says. “Everyone looks at a tax bill through his own individual prism. But to judge it more accurately, we need to consider how it will affect others, too.” That means, he explains, that while we need lower tax rates, “we also need a simpler system that is more transparent.” And that transparency, coupled with a strong dose of tax relief, will “go a long way toward jump-starting America’s struggling economy.”

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Adding some hard numbers to Ed Feulner’s argument, Heritage Senior Economics Fellow Stephen Moore dispels a common tax-reform myth in Creators Syndicate:The rich see most of the benefits from tax cuts. Citing a recent Cato study, Moore writes, “Lower-middle-class people — who make between $40,000 and $50,000 a year — will see a 46 percent reduction in taxes paid; people who make more than $1 million will see roughly a 7 percent reduction in taxes.”

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In immigration news, Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement “has increased arrests by 40 percent and deportations by nearly as much [at] 37 percent.” Bedard quotes Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, on the significance: “The immigration enforcement numbers released today by the Trump administration show very good progress in restoring the integrity of our immigration system.”

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“Trump really will shrink government,” writes Ethan Lane, executive director of the Public Lands Council, in The Hill, “starting with national monuments.” Lane explains that while many look for a partisan angle to President Donald J. Trump’s decision to shrink two national monuments in Utah, they’re missing the real story. “Every White House — especially over the last 30 years or so, has worked to expand the power of the Executive Branch.” But this time was different.

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CNN’s Kate Bennett reports that First Lady Melania Trump and Second Lady Karen Pence will visit Texas storm victims tomorrow and get an update on recovery efforts in the region. The women will spend time with first responders, meet a family whose home was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Harvey, and visit with local schoolchildren.