In this edition of the Midday News Wrap, we focus on the status of the Republican plan to overhaul the tax code. The GOP-controlled House and Senate have hammered together separate plans that propose a $1.5 trillion tax cut, but with a different set of rates, different deductions and on a different timetable. Democrats, and not just a few Republicans, reject both plans as tax windfalls for the rich that assault America's middle class and threaten the poor.
To help us sort out some of the key parts and operating principles of the GOP tax plans, we turn to Marshall Steinbaum , Research Director and a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, an economic think tank based in New York. Mr. Steinbaum joins Tom from NPR studios in Washington DC.