Speaker of the House Paul Ryan thinks the Republican tax plan will make it through the U. S. Senate on Sunday, saying the framework was negotiated on the front end unlike the failed attempts at repealing and replacing Obamacare.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan thinks the Republican tax plan will make it through the U. S. Senate, saying the framework was negotiated on the front end unlike the failed attempts at repealing and replacing Obamacare.
“We have more consensus on tax reform as Republicans, and we have less consensus on healthcare reform as Republicans,” the Wisconsin Republican told CBS “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Republican leaders in Congress are under pressure to get tax reform through after twice failing to pass a healthcare bill earlier this year, disappointing President Trump, and failing to make good on their campaign promises to overhaul President Obama’s signature healthcare law.
And it doesn’t appear they will have any help from Democrats on the recently released tax plan, which lowers the corporate tax rate and cuts the estate tax.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said he and his Democratic colleagues sent a letter to the president and Republican leadership, saying tax reform must not give tax breaks to the top one percent, it must be bipartisan and it can’t blow a hole in the deficit.
“Unfortunately, the Republican plan doesn’t agree with any of those. First, it’s completely focused on the wealthy and the powerful — not on the middle class. Second, it blows a huge hole in the deficit,” said Mr. Schumer on CBS “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
The tax plan is going through reconciliation, which Mr. Schumer called a partisan process that led to the demise on healthcare.
Sen. Bob Corker, Tennessee Republican, echoed concerns over the deficit, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he might not vote for the plan.
“If it looks to me like we’re adding one penny to the deficit, I am not going to be for it,” said Mr. Corker, who announced he would be retiring after his term ends in 2018 earlier this week.
