Copy of Sentinel V22 #40-D.C. Roundup of Strays
- Steve Dittmer
- Jul 22
- 5 min read
Things That Happened While House Was Advancing Reconciliation Bill. Now Proud Senate Takes Over.
Steve Dittmer | AFF Sentinel
Colorado Springs, CO
Originally sent to subscribers 05/26/25
President Trump has announced a 50 percent tariff on EU products, starting June 1. He said the talks with the notoriously difficult EU were going nowhere, so he decided to act. He listed a handful of the many ways the European Union disadvantages imported goods, noting “powerful trade barriers, VAT taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits,” according to the Breitbart Business Digest.
Other sources mentioned the EU’s difficulties in negotiating on behalf of 27 different nation states. Some of those states are not familiar with what is being negotiated at any given time.
Several commentators said that this might just be enough to galvanize the ultra-protective bloc into action.
Sure enough, the EU has already phoned, asked for meetings and some of the EU countries have asked for a speedy deal.
From April 2, the EU had been on a special discount tariff of ten percent from the initial 20 percent while negotiations were going on. Evidently, the Administration is frustrated with the slow pace and decided a kick in the pants was needed.
Examination of the data has shown that hundreds of thousands of Biden jobs claimed never existed. Unemployment data is quarterly, so this year the end of year reconciliation eliminated a lot of jobs. Government jobs were still the biggest share of new jobs but that is quickly changing under Trump and DOGE.
You might have noticed that while taxes were eliminated on tips and overtime in the House’s reconciliation bill, Social Security was not mentioned. Evidently, because of because of reconciliation rules, Social Security can’t be handled that way. But there are deductions and other mechanisms that have been included to handle cuts to Social Security taxes.
In Saudi Arabia, a McDonald’s kitchen truck like one that could be parked outside the NCBA convention was standing by for President Trump. Poor Donald! He had to settle for Black Angus steak instead at the formal Saudi luncheon.
Speaking of McDonald’s, in a tremendous vote of confidence, company President Joe Erlinger announced the chain was planning on hiring 375,000 workers this summer. They are opening new restaurants and expecting the economy to spur sales growth in their 70th year.
For the first quarter, McDonald’s reported sales of $5.96 billion and net income of $1.87 billion.
Mythology Department – You might have heard several hundred times from the Democrats that the Republicans were cutting Medicare and SNAP so that they could give tax cuts to billionaires. Commentator Charles Payne was one of many who pointed out that allowing current tax policy to expire-- instituted eight years ago in 2017 – would hurt the lowest tax brackets the most: the bottom quintile’s taxes would go up +17.8 percent, and the top 1%, up 6 percent.
One key item for agriculture: the exemption for federal death taxes is increased in the reconciliation bill.
It has also been pointed out that Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse easily amounts to $100 billion a year, i.e. a trillion dollars over 10 years. The Obamacare expansion has resulted in able bodied people not working. Biden’s administration added illegals to the benefit rolls. All of that is taking money away from the original targets of Medicaid: the poor, pregnant women and the handicapped. Congress has a fiduciary responsibility to fix this program.
The NLRB has been a problem for restaurant chains and retailers for some time. It has threatened to end the franchising business organization option entirely, a model many burger and steak chains use. It has also made multiple rule changes making it easier for labor unions to organize companies and harder for employers to fight back.
President Trump dismissed a Democrat-appointed board member and SCOTUS has allowed the dismissal to stand by staying the lower court’s ruling against the dismissal for now.
SCOTUS stayed a lower court decision holding that the President did not have the authority to dismiss NLRB commissioners because the NLRB is an independent agency. SCOTUS instead, in effect, apparently reasoned that since the president can hire commissioners, he can remove them without cause.
The removal of a board member, Gwynne Wilcox, means the NLRB does not have a quorum and cannot issue rulings.
As an aside, SCOTUS held that the Federal Reserve is a quasi-private entity and is not subject to the same executive powers as the NLRB. That is because monetary power authority is rooted in Congress, not the executive branch. That would cast doubt on any president’s authority to terminate the Federal Reserve chair.
The subject of growth is really the hinge upon which the next few years of the American economy will rest. We agree with those who say that growing the economy is the only way to survive and prosper, as well as, increase government revenue and reduce the deficit.
The question is how to achieve growth. The American experience with that question is certain: cut tax rates and cut spending. But not everyone believes that evidence and it is not politically palatable for the left.
We’ll do a whole column soon on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), but for now, keep in mind that the CBO does not believe the factual history and estimates that cutting tax rates will produce GDP of 1.7 percent. The White House team is estimating 3.1 percent and supply-side economists figure three to four percent. Every one percent increase in the GDP funnels an additional $4 trillion to the federal government’s cash box, according to While House economists.
For food producers, the biggest recent event after tariffs was the release of HHS’ report outlining the possible causes of disease they will be pursuing in the coming years. We will be reading it and deducing how much trouble we might be in. We certainly do not like the constant way the word “poison” keeps coming up in discussion of our food supply by RFK. Jr. and some of the “experts” he has brought with him.
Remember, RFK Jr. has been a trial attorney. If you have waded through many legal complaints, you know that key to any legal brief is the definitions. That means terms like “ultra-processed” foods. Incredibly, the media reports we’ve seen put cheeseburgers and French fries in that category. We will see if that is true. The other key, according to my attorney friends, is footnotes.
Exactly who was, or what group, was President AP from 2021-2024? President Auto Pen, that is.
Whistleblower reports and the tell-all books keep adding to the list, until we’ve lost track of how many people were supposed to be involved. Suffice it to say, there were a whole gaggle of Democrat operatives and family members grasping for power.
Imagine that. Oh, if auto pens could talk…
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