Portman, Trump talk tax code, opioids
Ohio Sen. says Oval Office meeting was ‘constructive.’
— Sen. Rob WASHINGTON Portman met with President Donald Trump Wednesday as part of an apparent effort by the White House and Senate Republicans to provide a jolt of energy to their stalled agenda on Capitol Hill.
In a statement, Portman, R-Ohio, would only say that he and Trump “had a good conversation about a range of issues,” including overhauling the federal tax code, curbing the addiction to opioids and “my bipartisan bill to stop online sex trafficking.”
“It was a constructive meeting,” said Portman who added Trump invited him to the Oval Office.
Following the collapse last month of Senate Republican efforts to dramatically revise the 2010 health law known as Obamacare, Portman and other Senate Republicans have turned to overhauling the tax code, an idea that should attract broad support among Republicans.
Portman has argued the tax code needs its first major overhaul since 1986. He has talked about reducing the number of individual income- tax brackets, cutting taxes on corporations and individuals, and scrubbing the bloated code of scores of deductions, moves that he argues would expand the economy and raise wages.
Senate Democrats this week, however, said this week they would only support a major revision in the tax code if it did not reduce taxes for the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers and increase the deficit.
Last year, House Republicans outlined a plan that would crunch the current six income tax brackets to three — 33 percent, 25 percent and 12 percent — while cutting the corporate income tax.
Critics have pointed out that without deep spending cuts or a massive economic boom, the plan would add trillions of dollars to the federal debt.