President Donald Trump warned House Republicans that if they fail on tax overhaul, next year would be a political failure for the Republican Party and disappointment for the nation. According to an unnamed aide from the Republican Party, Trump told the lawmakers that GOP would have to pay a high price in next year’s midterm elections if the plan doesn’t pass. It would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and double the standard deduction used by most average Americans.
The president joined a House GOP conference call and urged the members to adopt the budget passed by the Senate so that they can move on to passing his tax reform plan and stressed that by passing the tax cuts, they were on the verge of doing a historic thing. Even though the House passed a different budget from the one that the Senate passed last week, House Republicans said that they would accept the Senate plan in order to avoid potential delay on the tax measure. Many Republicans fear that if the tax reform doesn’t pass, there will be an all-out revolt next year.
Other unnamed lawmakers said that the leaders emphasized the need for the House to pass the Senate budget in order to avoid negotiations between the two chambers because that could slow the process.
And while the focus turns to taxes, the Congress still struggles with healthcare legislation. Mitch McConnel, Senate Majority Leader, said that if the president makes clear he supports bipartisan healthcare legislation, he would be willing to bring it to the floor. Republican Lamar Alexander and Democrat Patty Murray made a proposal according to which the federal insurance payments that Trump has blocked, would be extended for two years. The proposal is an effort to stabilize insurance markets, but Trump hasn’t said clearly what he thinks about it.
“If there’s a need for some kind of interim step here to stabilize the market, we need a bill the president will actually sign. And I’m not certain yet what the president is looking for here, but I will be happy to bring a bill to the floor if I know President Trump would sign it. I think he hasn’t made a final decision,” McConnell said.
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