THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

That would be the much ballyhooed but seldom seen Republican tax overhaul plan that, like the healthcare plan before it, is being prepared in secret so any who object to it will not have time to properly oppose it as Turtle Mitch and Lyin' Ryan try to ram it through their respective houses of Congress without alteration.

Almost no one on or off Capitol Hill has seen the tax overhaul bill that Republicans are drafting behind closed doors. Congressional staff members have not settled on many key details. Yet party leaders are preparing to move ahead on a timeline even more aggressive than their unsuccessful attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The swift pace to complete, release and quickly vote on a tax cut is aimed at leaving little time for the type of dissent that has scuttled previous tax proposals.

Senators approved a budget resolution for the 2018 fiscal year on Thursday night, setting up a rapid series of hearings and votes with the aim of getting a bill to President Trump by Christmas.

Republicans have been meeting for weeks in closed-door sessions to debate details of the tax plan, including two half-day retreats for House members late last month. House leaders will hold two smaller-group sessions next week, scheduled to last three to four hours each.

The speed is striking — and strategic — for tax legislation that lobbyists believe could span 1,000 pages. Republicans hope the breakneck pace will help hold their narrow Senate majority together against what will almost certainly be a deluge of lobbying and Democratic criticism.

The last major tax overhaul, which passed in 1986, took nearly 11 months from introduction to presidential signature.

“Some have described Washington as the slowest town until it is the fastest town,” said Representative Peter Roskam, Republican of Illinois, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Tax Policy in the House Ways and Means Committee, “and I think that’s what’s going to happen here.”

Congressional Republicans are under intense pressure from campaign donors, business groups and the White House to deliver a major legislative victory after nine months of congressional disappointment on big issues. Party leaders say they have learned from those setbacks, including the collapse of the health care push this summer.

Lawmakers “should have had a bill six months ago,” said Stephen Moore, a senior fellow in economics at the Heritage Foundation, who is advising the White House on the tax effort. “They will look so incompetent if they don’t get this done,” he said, adding that Republicans know the economy could suffer and that they could lose badly in the midterm elections next year if they do not pass something quickly. “Ultimately, that’s why I’m optimistic.”

Let's be clear about this, the tax code does need an overhaul. Can we trust the present Republican clown posse to do what is necessary? No. The secrecy and efforts to force it through as rapidly as possible make it clear this is a tax overhaul for the benefit of the billionaire donors to the Republican Party.If the GOP fails they will also lose millions of dollars of campaign support that has allowed them to buy elections across the country.And, after what these clowns have been doing in office, the loss of funds would mean the end of the Republican Party.