Trump signs off on tax, spending legislation
He wants Dems to work with him on infrastructure
WASHINGTON – President Trump signed a sweeping tax overhaul on Friday that will slash corporate and individual tax rates, calling it a “bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs” — and was enthusiastic about the prospects of more legislative victories next year.
Trump challenged Democrats to work with him to secure infrastructure funding next year, after his first major legislative win passed Congress along party lines.
“The Democrats very much regret it. They wanted to be a part of it,” Trump said of his political win. “But I really do believewe’re going to have a lot of bipartisan work done ... I really believe infrastructure can be bipartisan.”
“People want it, Republicans and Democrats,” Trumpadded. “I actual-
lywanted to save the easy one for the one down the road.”
Trump also signed a bill to keep the government funded until midJanuary — which he dubbed a “missile defense bill” — and appeared buoyant hours before leaving for Mar- a- Lago, his private Florida club, for the holidays.
Corporations, Trump said, “are literally going wild” about the reductions in the business tax rate. Republicans are predicting the package — consisting of a permanent rate reduction for corporations and temporary tax cuts for individuals — will spur further growth and business investment.
Yet Democrats have criticized the plan as a giveaway for the wealthiest Americans. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the largest cuts as a share of income in the overall tax plan will go to taxpayers in the 95th to 99th percentiles of all earners. In 2018, taxes would be reduced by about $ 1,600 on average.
And Trump’s assumption that infrastructure may be easier after the tax bill remains to be tested. Democrats also say the tax bill, estimated to add to the national debt by more than $ 1 trillion over the next decade, leaves the U. S. with few options for addressing critical national priorities, including struggling public schools, increasing mortality due to an opioid crisis and social safety net programsfacing looming shortfalls— let alone amajor infrastructure package.
Previously, Democrats and some Republicans had floated the idea of using repatriated corporate profits, or earnings brought back from overseas, to upgrade the nation’s crumbling roads and dilapidated mass transit systems. Yet the tax package Trump just signed allows corporations to repatriate an estimated $ 3 trillion in overseas cash — but applied that expected windfall to offset lower tax rates.
Further straining the national purse, Congress just approved emergency disaster aid bills totaling $ 15 billion in September, $ 36.5 billion in October, and this week is arguing over adding another $ 81 billion to address California wildfires and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Barring any last- minute decision to pay for it, that spending will be added to the 2018 deficit.
Trump was not originally scheduled to sign the tax bill Friday. Trump said media coverage spurred him to move up a signing ceremony planned for early next year.
“I didn’t want you folks to say I wasn’t keeping my promise” to sign the bill by the holidays, he said. “Every one of the networks was saying ‘ Will he keep his promise? Will he sign it by Christmas?’ ”
So Trump said he told his staff: “Get it ready, we have to sign it now.”