Jul 13, 2017

Koch network rolls out new ads on tax reform

An ad targeting Sen. Claire McCaskill via Freedom Partners

The Koch brothers' political network is rolling out new ads Thursday targeting both Democrats and Republicans over tax reform, including pressuring Republicans to ditch the border adjustment tax (B.A.T.) favored by Paul Ryan. The digital ads are part of a previously announced, multi-million Koch network campaign to promote tax reform.

The targets: Republicans on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee (to "drop the B.A.T.") and nine Democratic senators — including moderates like Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp (to "support tax reform").

Why it matters: The Koch network is the best-funded conservative network in the country, and they've got the resources — including a massive grassroots army — to sway members. They've already played a key role in making the border adjustment tax politically toxic, and now they want to arrange its funeral and move on with the rest of Trump's tax agenda.

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Axios
1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Louisville officer: "Breonna Taylor would be alive" if we had served no-knock warrant

Breonna Taylor memorial in Louisville. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, the Louisville officer who led the botched police raid that caused the death of Breonna Taylor, said the No. 1 thing he wishes he had done differently is either served a "no-knock" warrant or given five to 10 seconds before entering the apartment: "Breonna Taylor would be alive, 100 percent."

Driving the news: Mattingly, who spoke to ABC News and Louisville's Courier Journal for his public interview, was shot in the leg in the initial moments of the March 13 raid. Mattingly did not face any charges after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said he and another officer were "justified" in returning fire to protect themselves against Taylor's boyfriend.

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Scott Rosenberg, Ashley Gold, Kyle Daly
2 hours ago - Technology

U.S. vs. Google — the siege begins

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Justice Department fired the starter pistol on what's likely to be a years-long legal siege of Big Tech by the U.S. government when it filed a major antitrust suit Tuesday against Google.

The big picture: Once a generation, it seems, federal regulators decide to take on a dominant tech company. Two decades ago, Microsoft was the target; two decades before that, IBM.

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2 hours ago - Economy & Business

Why the stimulus delay isn't a crisis (yet)

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

If the impasse between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House on a new stimulus deal is supposed to be a crisis, you wouldn't know it from the stock market, where prices continue to rise.

  • That's been in no small part because U.S. economic data has held up remarkably well in recent months thanks to the $2 trillion CARES Act and Americans' unusual ability to save during the crisis.
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