Thread by @GunnelsWarren

1) The draft House rules on “PAYGO” & a super majority on taxes are designed to set up roadblocks against:
- #MedicareForAll
- #GreenNewDeal
- #CollegeForAll
- Universal Childcare
- Paid Family and Medical Leave
- A Job Guarantee
- #HousingForAll
nymag.com/intelligencer/…

2) There’s nothing “progressive” about these rules & they should be scrapped. If PAYGO and super majority tax rules were in place in the House in the 1930s and the 1960s, it would have made it nearly impossible to pass FDR’s New Deal and Medicare. cbpp.org/federal-budget…

3) They should be replaced with a rule requiring a three-fifths majority vote on any bill to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. That would be progressive.

4) The PAYGO/super majority rules are designed to give "moderates" the following excuse to progressives: I love your bill, but has the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated how much it will cost? Has the Joint Tax Committee (JCT) determined if it will raise taxes?

5) CBO/JCT will say: Are you kidding me, we only provide cost estimates on bills that we know are likely to get a vote on the House floor. Sorry, your bill is dead.

6) Or CBO/JCT after a year or two has gone by will say: Your bill is not deficit neutral. If you want to raise taxes to pay for it someone in the bottom 80 percent may see their taxes go up even if they will save thousands of dollars on healthcare, childcare, housing, etc.

7) Response from the "moderates": Sorry, we can’t pass your bill. It’s against the rules.

8) Days later, just before the end of Congress, the House schedules a vote on a package of tax extenders that will increase the deficit by tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, benefiting large corporations, pharmaceutical companies, and the wealthy.

9) Progressives: Hey, wait a second. You just told me our childcare bill couldn’t get a vote because it was against the rules. Why is this bill getting a vote?

10) Response: Such and such is in a tough election. His constituents need it. Translation: Because wealthy donors lobbied/paid to waive the rules. (Such and such loses his election and becomes a lobbyist.)

11) Rinse. Recycle. Repeat. These are how the rules in Washington are rigged in favor of the wealthy and against the working class, the elderly, the sick, the poor and everyone else who can't afford a high-paid lobbyist.

12) (Keep in mind: In the House, rules can be waived by a simple majority. In the Senate it takes 60 votes. But the rules are generally waived to pass legislation that helps the billionaire class, not the working class.) End of thread.