Trump looks for plaudits, inks tax law
Ceremony a ‘rush job’ but holds to promise, he says
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed the most consequential tax legislation in three decades on Friday, even as he complained that he has not been given credit for his administration’s accomplishments during a turbulent first year.
Trump decided against doing a formal signing ceremony early next year because television news networks questioned whether he would keep his promise to sign the legislation before Christmas.
Trump said he saw the coverage Friday morning and hastily called his staff to say that the legislation needed to be signed “now,” prompting a last-minute Oval Office ceremony for the signing.
“We did a rush job today,” Trump said at the bill signing. “It’s not fancy, but it’s the Oval Office. It’s the great Oval Office.”
The bill was the most significant legislative victory for Trump, who has struggled during his first year in office to pass major bills that would deliver on campaign promises, even with Repub-
licans having the majority in both chambers of Congress.
Republicans promise the new tax law — which both chambers of Congress passed Thursday — will benefit the middle class, but Democrats have warned that the law could be harmful to many lower-income taxpayers and to the nation’s fiscal health.
“It’s going to be a tremendous thing for the American people,” Trump said Friday.
Before signing the legislation, Trump said in a Twitter post that companies were celebrating the bill’s passage with bonuses for workers.
He wrote: “Our big and very popular Tax Cut and Reform Bill has taken on an unexpected new source of “love” — that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses. This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage. Merry Christmas!”
Several companies, including AT&T, which is seeking government approval of a major acquisition of Time Warner, have announced that they would give bonuses to workers.
During the signing ceremony, Trump said, “Corporations are literally going wild over this.”
Trump also praised the work of Republican lawmakers who worked on the bill, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., none of whom were present.
“Mitch McConnell has been fantastic, he worked so hard,” Trump said. “And the exact same thing could be said of Paul Ryan.”
The president then took a swipe at Democrats who didn’t support the bill.
“Democrats don’t like tax cuts,” Trump said. “They want to raise your taxes and spend money foolishly … in many cases.”
There was some discussion in Congress and at the White House that Trump should consider delaying the signing until early 2018 as a way to delay automatic spending cuts that could have been triggered by the tax cuts. In addition, some companies said that delay would give them more time to adjust to the major changes that the new tax code will mean for their businesses.
However, once Congress reached a deal this week to avoid the possibility of the spending cuts, White House officials signaled that Trump wanted to sign the bill into law as soon as possible.
Trump often reacts to television news, and Friday was no different. The president delayed his travel to Florida for the holidays by an hour to stave off potential criticism.
“Every one of the networks was saying, ‘Will he keep his promise?’” the president said, referring to his earlier vow that the bill would be on his desk before Christmas.
Shortly after 10 a.m., Trump announced in a Twitter post that the bill would be signed “in 30 minutes.”
Earlier in the morning, the president suggested that he would not get credit for what he said were extraordinary accomplishments for a first year.
On Twitter, he wrote that the mainstream media “NEVER talk about our accomplishments in the end of year reviews.” He added: “We are compiling a long beautiful list.”
Under the new tax law, individual rates will be lowered, but those cuts are set to expire in 2025.
The standard deduction, however, will almost double.
The tax credit for children also will double, which Republicans have said will benefit lower-income families. The largest cut by far in the new tax law — which will not expire — benefits corporations.
The new law has been criticized by lawmakers representing states with high taxes, because the bill caps state and local tax deductions at $10,000.
The law also eliminates the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s mandate that most people have health insurance or pay a penalty. Trump has said that amounted to repealing President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. The law is not repealed, but the mandate had been considered an important feature of it.
Still, 8.8 million Americans signed up for coverage, according to figures his administration announced Thursday.
The tax changes will reduce federal revenue by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, even after accounting for their beneficial effects on the U.S. economy, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’ tax scorekeeper.
That runs counter to arguments advanced by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans that the tax package would stimulate enough economic growth to pay for itself.
Tax reductions for businesses and individuals will increase U.S. gross domestic product by about 0.7 percent over the 10-year window, according to the Joint Committee
on Taxation’s estimate. As a result, the cuts, which total about $1.456 trillion, would generate $451 billion in growth, the committee’s analysis showed. Growth would be slightly reduced by increased interest on the federal debt of about $66 billion over the period, the committee added.
The bottom line: almost $1.1 trillion in deficits over the 10-year period.
Also Friday, Trump signed a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. In addition to extending government funding, the bill includes $4 billion for missile defense, among other provisions.
Trump said Friday that his next priorities will include an infrastructure bill aimed at spurring investment in the nation’s ailing roads, bridges, airports and waterways.
“I really believe infrastructure can be bipartisan,” Trump said, saying “Infrastructure is the easiest of all. … People want it, Republicans and Democrats.”
Information for this article was contributed by Eileen Sullivan and Michael Tackett of The New York Times; by John Voskuhl of Bloomberg News; by Laurie Kellman and Jonathan Lemire of The Associated Press; and by John Wagner of The Washington Post.