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GOP push to make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, say going back would be a ‘dramatic’ change for many
Tax season is done.
And this year, Congressional Republicans converted tax season to «sales» season. Republicans and President Donald Trump are pushing to approve a bill to reauthorize his 2017 tax cut package. Otherwise, those taxes expire later this year.
«We absolutely have to make the tax cuts permanent,» said Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., on FOX Business.
«We’ve got to get the renewal of the President’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That’s absolutely essential,» said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., on FOX Business.
Rates for nearly every American spike if Congress doesn’t act within the next few months.
CONFIDENCE IN DEMOCRATS HITS ALL TIME LOW IN NEW POLL
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks with the media after the House passed the budget resolution on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
«We are trying to avoid tax increases on the most vulnerable populations in our country,» said Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee which determines tax policy. «I am trying to avoid a recession.»
If Congress stumbles, the non-partisan Tax Foundation estimates that a married couple with two children – earning $165,000 a year – is slapped with an extra $2,400 in taxes. A single parent with no kids making $75,000 annually could see a $1,700 upcharge on their tax bill. A single parent with two children bringing home $52,000 a year gets slapped with an additional $1,400 in taxes a year.
«Pretty significant. That’s an extra mortgage payment or extra rent payment,» said Daniel Bunn of the non-partisan Tax Foundation. «People have been kind of used to living with the policies that are currently in law for almost eight years now. And the shift back to the policy that was prior to the 2017 tax cuts would be a dramatic tax increase for many.»
But technically, Republicans aren’t cutting taxes.
«As simple as I can make this bill. It is about keeping tax rates the same,» said Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, on Fox.
Congress had to write the 2017 tax reduction bill in a way so that the reductions would expire this year. That was for accounting purposes. Congress didn’t have to count the tax cuts against the deficit thanks to some tricky number-crunching mechanisms – so long as they expired within a multi-year window. But the consequence was that taxes could climb if lawmakers failed to renew the old reductions.
«It sunsets and so you just automatically go back to the tax levels prior to 2017,» said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
A recent Fox News poll found that 45% of those surveyed – and 44% of independents believe the rich don’t pay enough taxes.
Democrats hope to turn outrage about the perceived tax disparity against Trump.
«He wants his billionaire buddies to get an even bigger tax break. Is that disgraceful?» asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at a rally in New York.
«Disgrace!» shouted someone in the crowd.
«Disgraceful! Disgraceful!» followed up Schumer.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., (R) speaks alongside Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., (L) to reporters during a news conference on the impacts of the Republican budget proposal at the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Some Republicans are now exploring raising rates on the wealthy or corporations. There’s been chatter on Capitol Hill and in the administration about exploring an additional set of tax brackets.
«I don’t believe the president has made a determination on whether he supports it or not,» said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
«We’re going to see where the President is» on this, said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent while traveling in Argentina. «Everything is on the table.»
A Treasury spokesperson then clarified Bessent’s remarks.
«What’s off the table is a $4.4 trillion tax increase on the American people,» said the spokesperson. «Additionally, corporate tax cuts will set off a manufacturing boom and rapidly grow the U.S. economy again.»
Top Congressional GOP leaders dismissed the idea.
«I’m not a big fan of doing that,» said House Speaker Mike Johnson on Fox. «I mean we’re the Republican party and we’re for tax reduction for everyone.»
FEDERAL JUDGE TEMPORARILY RESTRICTS DOGE ACCESS TO PERSONALIZED SOCIAL SECURITY DATA
«I don’t support that initiative,» said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., on FOX Business, before adding «everything’s on the table.»
But if you’re President Donald Trump and the GOP, consider the politics of creating a new corporate tax rate or hiking taxes on the well-to-do.
Sunrise light hits the U.S. Capitol dome on Thursday, January 2, 2025, as the 119th Congress is set to begin Friday. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The president has expanded the GOP base. Republicans are no longer the party of the «wealthy.» Manual laborers, shop and storekeepers and small business persons now comprise Trump’s GOP. So maintaining these tax cuts helps with that working-class core. Raising taxes on the wealthy would help Republicans pay for the tax cuts and reduce the hit on the deficit. And it would shield Republicans from the Democrats’ argument that the tax cuts are for the rich.
Congress is now in the middle of a two-week recess for Passover and Easter. GOP lawmakers and staff are working behind the scenes to actually write the bill. No one knows exactly what will be in the bill. Trump promised no taxes on tips for food service workers. There is also talk of no taxes on overtime.
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Republicans from high-tax states like New York and Pennsylvania want to see a reduction of «SALT.» That’s where taxpayers can write off «state and local taxes.» This provision is crucial to secure the support of Republicans like Reps. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. But including the SALT reduction also increases the deficit.
So what will the bill look like?
«Minor adjustments within that are naturally on the table,» said Rounds. «The key though, [is] 218 in the House and 51 in the Senate.»
In other words, it’s about the math. Republicans need to develop the right legislative brew which commands just the right amount of votes in both chambers to pass. That could mean including certain provisions – or dumping others. It’s challenging. Especially with the slim House majority.
People attend a press conference and rally in support of fair taxation near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on April 10, 2025. (Bryan Dozier / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)
«There were trade-offs and offsets within that bill that many people are dissatisfied with,» said Bunn of the 2017 bill. «And it’s not clear how the package is going to come together with those various trade-offs.»
Johnson wants the bill complete by Memorial Day. Republicans know this enterprise can’t drag on too late into the year. Taxpayers would see a tax increase – even if it’s temporary – if working out the bill stretches into the fall when the IRS begins to prepare for the next tax season.
It’s also thought that finishing this sooner rather than later would provide some stability to the volatile stock markets. Establishing tax policy for next year would calm anxieties about the nation’s economic outlook.
«The big, beautiful bill,» Trump calls it, adding he wants the legislation done «soon.»
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And that’s why tax season is now sales season. Both to the lawmakers. And to the public.
Politics,Taxes,Congress,Donald Trump
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Máxima tensión: Irán advirtió que responderá con fuerza a cualquier ataque contra su territorio
Mientras se aguardan nuevas conversaciones bilaterales para este jueves, Irán alertó que responderá “con fuerza” a cualquier ataque a su territorio, aunque sea limitado. La advertencia se conoció después de que Donald Trump amenazó con lanzar una acción militar de ese tipo.
El presidente estadounidense, que presiona a Irán para alcanzar un acuerdo sobre su programa nuclear, ordenó un fuerte despliegue naval y aéreo en Oriente Medio.
Leé también: Ola de violencia en México: hay al menos 58 muertos y 41 detenidos tras el asesinato del narco “El Mencho”
“No hay un ataque limitado. Un acto de agresión se considerará un acto de agresión. Punto final”, declaró el portavoz del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores iraní, Esmail Baqai, en rueda de prensa en Teherán.
El vocero contestó así cuando le preguntaron por las declaraciones de Trump, quien dijo el viernes que “considera” un ataque limitado contra Irán si este país no alcanza rápidamente un acuerdo con Estados Unidos.
“Cualquier Estado reaccionaría con fuerza a un acto de agresión en virtud de su derecho inherente a la legítima defensa, y eso es precisamente lo que haríamos”, recalcó Baqai.
Evitar una “escalada”
Por su parte, el viceministro iraní de Relaciones Exteriores, Kazem Qaribabadi, advirtió del riesgo de una “escalada” más allá de las fronteras de su país en caso de ataque. Además, llamó “a todos los países comprometidos con la paz y la justicia a tomar medidas significativas” para evitarlo.
En tanto, “por prudencia”, Estados Unidos ordenó la evacuación del personal no esencial de su embajada en Beirut, mientras que el movimiento libanés proiraní Hezbollah anunció que no permanecería neutral si Washington ataca.
Un iraní sostiene un retrato del líder supremo, el ayatolá Alí Jamenei, entre banderas nacionales durante una manifestación en Teherán (Foto: EFE)
El jueves, el presidente estadounidense indicó que se daba un plazo de diez a quince días para decidir sobre un eventual recurso a la fuerza contra Teherán.
Estados Unidos e Irán celebraron el 17 de febrero en Suiza una segunda ronda de negociaciones indirectas, bajo mediación de Omán, sobre el programa nuclear de Teherán en un momento de gran tensión después de que Washington desplegara dos portaviones en la región.
La próxima sesión de conversaciones tendrá lugar este jueves, confirmaron Irán, Omán y Estados Unidos.
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El jefe de la diplomacia iraní, Abás Araqchi, encabeza las negociaciones por parte de Teherán, mientras que Estados Unidos está representado por el emisario Steve Witkoff y el yerno del presidente estadounidense, Jared Kushner.
El canciller iraní consideró el domingo que existían “buenas opciones de llegar a una solución diplomática en la que todos ganen”. Araqchi afirmó que esperaba entregar pronto “una primera versión” del texto al equipo estadounidense.
Las anteriores conversaciones entre ambos países se vieron interrumpidas en junio de 2025 por la guerra desencadenada por Israel contra Irán, en la que intervino Washington bombardeando instalaciones nucleares de la república islámica.
Nuevas manifestaciones
La tensión entre Estados Unidos e Irán se agravó tras la sangrienta represión de una oleada de manifestaciones por parte de las autoridades iraníes a principios de año, que llevó a Trump a prometer “ayudar” al pueblo iraní.
Por primera vez desde enero, en los últimos días se organizaron varias concentraciones contra el poder en algunas ciudades.
El lunes, unos videos divulgados por las redes sociales y verificados por AFP mostraban a grupos de estudiantes en una universidad de Teherán quemando la bandera de la república islámica, adoptada después de la revolución de 1979 que derrocó a la monarquía.
La multitud, compuesta mayoritariamente por mujeres, gritaba “íAbajo la república islámica!” y lemas contra el guía supremo, Alí Jamenei, y contra las autoridades religiosas.
Algunos iraníes contaron que el lunes habían recibido un SMS que decía que la residencia del líder supremo y la sede del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional habían sido “atacados”. Este lunes, las fuerzas de seguridad patrullaban en las principales intersecciones de Teherán.
Irán
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Chloe Cole Act aimed at blocking minors from undergoing life-altering transgender surgeries, GOP lawmaker says
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A Republican lawmaker is teaming up with outspoken detransitioner Chloe Cole to push federal legislation that would block gender-related medical procedures for minors, saying that children are being rushed into receiving treatments with life-altering results.
The Chloe Cole Act is being introduced on Monday as federal legislation aimed at protecting minors from gender-related medical procedures.
Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., who is behind the bill, has a medical degree and is sounding the alarm over the impact that gender-related treatments can have on minors. The congressman told Fox News Digital that his bill will not only protect minors from these treatments, but will also give children and parents the right to hold medical professionals accountable in court.
«We know that in the last 15 years, the transgender movement has convinced tens of thousands of boys and girls that they are born in the wrong body…. And then a chain of transgender clinics has exploited these kids for the ideology and for the profit and really done permanent damage to the health of those kids with wrong sex hormones, puberty blockers and even mutilating surgeries,» Onder told Fox News Digital.
Chloe Cole speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 20, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The congressman said the Chloe Cole Act arises from President Donald Trump’s January 2025 order titled, «Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.» The order encouraged lawmakers to «work to draft, propose, and promote legislation to enact a private right of action for children and the parents of children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation.» The order noted that statutes of limitations for these cases should be «lengthy.»
Cole, who has become a prominent detransition advocate, told Fox News Digital that the legislation is «a vital step in our mission to ensure that no minor in America ever endures the kind of lasting, irreparable damage I experienced.»
«While we’ve made significant strides in raising awareness and enacting protections in recent years, the fight is far from over. Too many children remain at risk of irreversible harm from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures pushed on them before they can fully understand the consequences,» Cole said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital.
«We must finish what we’ve started and safeguard the next generation from these experimental and barbaric treatments,» she added.
Chloe Cole, who detransitioned after medical procedures, warns others to wait and seek family support before transitioning, shared her story with Fox News Digital. (Fox News Digital)
TRUMP-SIGNED SHUTDOWN BILL SENDS $4M TO CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS UNDER FEDERAL PROBE FOR TRANSGENDER CARE
A recent legal judgment in New York has provided advocates like Cole some hope in holding medical providers accountable. Recently, a jury awarded 22-year-old Fox Varian $2 million in damages after she sued a plastic surgeon who performed a double mastectomy on her when she was a teenager. Varian’s lawsuit was also aimed at her psychologist. The New York Times noted that Varian claimed the 2019 double mastectomy left her disfigured. Varian, like Cole, was born female and at one point identified as a man. She is now undergoing the detransition process.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has previously expressed support for providing minors with gender-related medical treatment.
«The AAP and other major medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization — support giving transgender adolescents access to the health care they need,» a 2023 statement from the AAP read. «The AAP opposes any laws or regulations that discriminate against transgender and gender-diverse individuals, or that interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.»
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Chloe Cole, who spoke about receiving medical transitioning care as a teen, is greeted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 20, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Cole celebrated the judgment, and said in a Fox News Digital op-ed: «There are so many other young people like us. We were lied to by doctors, nurses and therapists when we were vulnerable and confused children. They did irreversible harm to our bodies and minds, making a mockery of the medical profession. They should absolutely be held accountable for sacrificing us in service to radical transgender ideology.»
In her op-ed, Cole brought up a subject that Onder also touched on during his interview with Fox News Digital: the prevalence of medical professionals warning parents that their child could harm themselves or even commit suicide if they are not allowed to undergo the procedures.
«Those parents are being lied to,» Onder said. «The words I hear quoted over and over again, by Chloe, by Luka Hein, by others, is that their parents were told, ‘Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?’ implying that the risk of suicide is approaching 100%, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is an utter lie,» Onder said.
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The congressman lambasted the industry behind gender-related medical procedures, wondering if children were being pushed into the surgeries because of «sick ideology» or a «desire for profit.»
«Parents are being lied to, the transgender clinics and the transgender doctors are making off with a lot of money. It’s really a despicable development in American medicine. And as a physician, I look forward to the day where it’s in our rearview mirror and no longer are kids being exploited,» the congressman added.
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politics,surgery,health
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Mexico violence sees dozens of military troops, criminals dead after cartel leader ‘El Mencho’ killed
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Cartel violence that erupted across Mexico left 25 Mexican National Guard troops and more than two dozen criminal suspects among the dead following the killing of Jalisco New Generation cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, officials said Monday.
Mexico Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said the troops in Jalisco were killed in six separate attacks following the killing of Oseguera Cervantes during a shootout inside his home as the Mexican military attempted to capture him. He also said some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco and four others were killed in Michoacan.
García Harfuch added that a prison guard, an agent from the state prosecutor’s office and a woman whom he did not identify were also killed.
The U.S. provided intelligence support for the Mexican operation that resulted in the death of the cartel leader, who was known as «El Mencho.»
Mexican Security and Citizen Protection Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch speaks as President Claudia Sheinbaum looks on during a news conference in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, the day after the Mexican army killed cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
Mexican Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla said Monday that intelligence leading to the military operation came from a romantic partner of the crime boss, Reuters reported.
A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set on fire in Cointzio, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, after the death of «El Mencho.» (AP Photo/Armando Solis)
The cartel reacted to its leader’s death with violence across Mexico, placing roadblocks and setting vehicles on fire throughout Sunday.
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President Claudia Sheinbaum urged calm Monday, and authorities said all the more than 250 cartel roadblocks across 20 states had been cleared.
The U.S. State Department said its personnel in cities across Mexico would shelter in place Monday, urging U.S. citizens in many parts of Mexico to do the same.
Oseguera Cervantes was the leader of one of the largest narco-terrorist cartels in the country.
«El Mencho» was killed during a shootout as the Mexican military attempted to capture him in an operation in Jalisco on Sunday, Feb. 22., 2026. (Drug Enforcement Administration)
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The criminal network was notorious for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States, and staging brazen attacks against government officials who challenged it.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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location mexico,mexican cartel violence,world
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