Thomas Massie on Tax Reform, Shikha Dalmia on Deporting Americans
Listen to SiriusXM Insight (channel 121) from 9-12 AM ET as Matt Welch interviews Massie, Dalmia, Kevin Williamson, Bethany Mandel, and LSD enthusiast Daniel Miller


Today, the House of Representatives is expected to pass its long-awaited, short-gestated version of tax reform. Among the many questions associated with the bill is whether it will indeed add $1.7 trillion of new red ink to the national debt over the next decade (as per Congressional Budget Office guesstimates), or whether "dynamic scoring" and supply-side magic will whittle that figure down to insignificance; whether your average family of four will indeed save $1,182 on their next tax bill or whether the elimination of the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction will hammer tens of millions; and perhaps above all whether the Senate will pay even one bit of attention to the House's exertions (and conversely, whether the House will demand a conference committee if the Senate ever passes its version, or simply fold like it did when the upper chamber passed a 10-year budget resolution with a $1.5 trillion deficit hole).
All of which can mean only one thing: Time to get #SassyWithMassie! Today in the first hour of my 9-12 a.m. ET stint guest-hosting Stand UP! with Pete Dominick on SiriusXM Insight (channel 121), I will have on Kentucky's libertarian Republican congressman, Thomas Massie, to see whether and why he still stands by his recent comments to CNN that "I am going to vote for this. This is a new experience for me to be excited about a bill." Later in the program I'll also have on National Review staffer Kevin Williamson, who initially characterized the GOP plan as "An Anti-Growth Tax Cut."
Also on the program:
* Reason's own Shikha Dalmia, to talk about her marvelous new magazine piece, "How Immigration Crackdowns Screw Up Americans' Lives: The war on immigration has taken a great toll on unauthorized aliens, its targets. But it is also badly affecting Americans themselves, its intended beneficiaries."
* Daniel Miller, founder of the Psychedelic Society of Brooklyn, to talk about the 79th birthday of acid, and why dosing (or micro-dosing) may well be good for you.
* Bethany Mandel of The Federalist, to talk about her New York Times op-ed from yesterday, "Roy Moore Reminds Me of My Rabbi."
As ever, please call in any old time, at 1-877-974-7487.
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Just don't let Moynihan on to interview anyone with socially contentious assertions.
On the contrary, have Moynihan interview everybody, but make him do it in his Jesse Jackson voice.
Did you hear the latest Fifth Column?
No. Was it awesome?
Unless something was edited out, the thing went from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye. Moynihan at one point seems to snap at his cohosts as they try to bring the thing back onto the rails. I haven't yet made it much past that point to see if things calm down. It was one-sided, alcohol-fueled mayhem at its pinnacle.
I've only listened to the first 20 minutes or so, but as Fist says, Moynie pipes in and goes hard after their guest. He should have his own interview show, preferably taped whenever he's at peak grouchy.
Lame. A better one in this genre is Nancy French's confession she used to blow her youth minister when she was 12 and "it was just like Roy Moore".
whether it will indeed add $1.7 trillion of new red ink to the national debt over the next decade (as per Congressional Budget Office guesstimates)
the Congressional Budget Office ... guesstimated the 10-year deficit impact of the House bill at $1.7 trillion.
Emphases added. Debt or deficit -- who the hell knows!
Whatever the deficit is, it increases the debt by that amount. If the deficit ends up $1.7trillion more than some 'baseline', then I guess it's sort of accurate to say the debt will have a corresponding increase.
Usually the deficit is a yearly figure. And it gets add to the existing debt. However, if you phrase it as a 10-year deficit, it's a little unorthodox, but technically correct.
I don't know why they choose to always phrase it that way. Why can't they just say what the average annual deficit will be under a bill/law and how that number is expected to expand or contract?
It's using numbers for emotional appeal rather than directly presenting statistics for evaluation.
10-year budget resolution with a $1.5 trillion deficit hole
Or cut spending?
Nah, the GOP won't think of that.
Nobody thinks of that.
It's entitlements all the way down!
why dosing (or micro-dosing) may well be good for you.
Well, apparently none of the mass shooters was an acid enthusiast.
Needs more Kmele
He's too busy making money.
"Reason's own Shikha Dalmia, to talk about her marvelous new magazine piece,"
Oh, FFS.
I first saw that as "Roy Moore Reminds me of my Rabbit".
Your taxes go down, unless you live in California, New York, New Jersey or Maryland.
Good luck getting Republicans in those states to support this tax hike plan.