FREEDOMWORKS 04/23/2017 PRESIDENT TRUMP - PLEASE FIRE IRS CHIEF JOHN KOSKINEN - NOW!

House Republicans Near Potential Breakthrough on Health Care - via CNNPresident Donald Trump touted progress as top House Republicans may be nearing a significant breakthrough on efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, one month after a Republican health care bill was pulled from the House floor. The leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, and the head of the moderate Tuesday Group, New Jersey Rep. Tom MacArthur, are working toward a deal that could bring 18 to 20 new "Yes" votes from the conference's conservative wing, according to a source familiar with the talks. But it's not clear there would be enough votes in the broader GOP House conference to pass the bill. The White House and GOP leadership have been involved in the talks and are aware of the latest progress, the source added. Read more here... Brat: New ObamaCare Repeal Bill Contains 'Significant' Changes - via The HillA Republican who opposed the first House GOP ObamaCare repeal bill says a revamped effort is the "same fundamental bill" as the one that failed last month. Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), who has signaled he might be able to back the new bill, said it includes "significant changes." "It's not really a new bill — it's the same fundamental bill, but a few pretty significant amendments to it," he said during an appearance on CNN's "New Day." He said the new plan, the text of which has not been written yet, would lower the cost of health insurance and return responsibility to individual states. Read more here... FreedomWorks' Book Club Spotlight: "Our Lost Constitution: The Willful Subversion of America's Founding Document" In Our Lost Constitution, Senator Mike Lee tells the dramatic, little-known stories behind six of the Constitution's most indispensable provisions. He shows their rise. He shows their fall. And he makes vividly clear how nearly every abuse of federal power today is rooted in neglect of this Lost Constitution. Get your copy here... Sen. Paul, Scott Bullock: Civil Forfeiture Has Ruined Countless Lives. It's Long Overdue for Reform - by Sen. Rand Paul & Scott Bullock via Fox NewsJustice Clarence Thomas made headlines last month when he criticized civil forfeiture, a notorious police practice that allows law enforcement to confiscate property, even from people who have never been charged with a crime. “This system,” he wrote, “has led to egregious and well-chronicled abuses.” Hearing one of the Supreme Court’s most conservative members denounce such a shameful violation of our civil liberties gives us hope that civil forfeiture can be drastically curtailed. To prevent future abuses, I, along with Rep. Tim Walberg, reintroduced the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act (FAIR Act) in March. The FAIR Act would dramatically reform federal civil-forfeiture laws to respect the American people’s Fifth Amendment rights while maintaining the ability of courts to order the surrender of proceeds from crime. Read more here... Fire IRS Chief John Koskinen - via Washington Examiner President Trump needs a win. The public would benefit from reassurance about the institutions of government. Luckily, both can be achieved with a single action. Trump should dismiss IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.By telling the taxman he's fired, the president would re-energize his young administration. More importantly, he would also significantly reform the most loathed agency in Washington. Tax Day provides a perfect chance for this sort of principled populism. This Tuesday the tax man cometh. Members of the public will dutifully cut the IRS a check. No sane person enjoys this April ritual, but most people understand they should pay their fair share. It's one of the costs of civil society. But as we drop a check in the mail, we should know that the IRS is playing by the rules. Read more here... ALEC-FreedomWorks Legislator of the Week - via ALEC Senator Bill Ketron is a native Tennessean and was born in Kingsport, Tennessee. He received his B.S. in political science and history from Middle Tennessee State University and is a graduate of Leadership Rutherford, the year-long government and community education program of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. Outside of his work in the legislature, Sen. Ketron is the president of Universal International Insurance, an independent insurance agency in Murfreesboro started by his father in 1969.In 2003 Sen. Ketron was elected to the Tennessee State Senate and currently serves as the Senate Majority Caucus Chair, to which he was elected in 2013. He previously served as Deputy Speaker of the Senate. Sen. Ketron is an active member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and serves as the Tennessee State Chair. He has sponsored legislation aimed at introducing occupational licensure reform as well as expanding educational reform across the state of Tennessee. Read more here... Moral Hazard Peter Schiff explains the concept of moral hazard—the idea that policies designed to reduce risk often result in perverse incentives that lead to bad behavior. When the government tries to mitigate the cost of risky behavior, you end up with a lot more risky behavior, and it is easy for this effect to snowball and cause well-intentioned programs to completely fail and fall apart. Watch it here... Trump to Sign Executive Order, Memoranda on Financial Regulation at Treasury - via The HillPresident Trump on Friday will sign one executive order and two presidential memoranda dealing with financial regulation and taxes at the Treasury Department, according to the White House. All three documents will direct Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to analyze key provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and the tax code, and report back on ways to improve them. CNBC first reported that Trump would sign two executive orders at the Treasury. Trump promised to "dismantle" Dodd-Frank during his campaign and signed two executive orders in February instructing his Cabinet to look for economically beneficial reforms that could be made to the law. It’s unclear how the two memoranda to be signed Friday differ from previous orders. Read more here... How Tuition-Free College Education Hurts Young People - via National Review The progressive push to make public higher education free would damage the economy and leave students ill-prepared to enter the workforce.Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren recently proposed the College for All Act, which promises to make public universities free for most students. A similar bill just became law in New York, and support is building for tuition-free public universities in other states as well. Unfortunately, the senators’ proposal would hurt the very Millennials it aims to help, by reducing economic growth. Read more here... FreedomWorks in Action For Freedom, Jason Pye Director of Public Policy, FreedomWorks