Senate GOP hopeful about tax overhaul
WASHINGTON – Senate Republican leaders remained optimistic Tuesday that tax reform legislation would pass the body in the next few days, while acknowledging that the vote will likely be very close.
Their positive comments followed a onehour meeting in the Capitol by President Donald Trump with the entire Senate GOP caucus and were bolstered by the announcement by Sen. Bob Corker that he would support the bill.
The bill also became assured of going to the Senate floor when the Senate Budget Committee later Tuesday apfor proved combining it with legislation that opens up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration.
Corker, of Tennessee, had previously said he would oppose any tax bill that would raise the deficit and was among several GOP senators who have expressed reservations about it.
Corker said his support was based on an agreement to include a trigger in the bill that would rescind the tax cuts if they caused an increase in the deficit. He did not provide details of the language.
“I think we’ve come to a pretty good place,” Corker said. “The White House is all fine with this.”
Another positive sign Republicans, who hold a bare 52-48 margin in the Senate, was the tone of Tuesday’s meeting, which included a back-and-forth between Trump and Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, another member with concerns about the bill.
“It was very respectful,” said Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho. “Both of them were well-schooled.”
Johnson voted Tuesday with the Republican majority in the Budget Committee to send the bill to the floor. The bill would have gone down if Johnson had voted against it in committee.
The Oshkosh Republican said this week he was prepared to vote against the committee version of the bill unless fellow Republicans agreed to lower taxes on so-called "passthrough" businesses.
The profits from those businesses are passed through to their owners who then pay taxes on the money at individual tax rates. Other corporations known as "c corps" pay taxes directly on their profits.
"I've still got very serious concerns about those pass-through businesses, often times the manufacturers that are so important to small towns," Johnson said Tuesday in an interview on Fox News after the committee vote.
Still, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described the process of wrangling enough votes for passage as “a challenging exercise.”
He criticized Democratic congressional leaders who canceled a meeting Tuesday afternoon with GOP leadership and Trump at the White House.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said they decided not to attend the meeting after Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that he couldn’t see how a deal could be struck between Democrats and Republicans and the White House.
The Democratic leaders said they would be interested instead in meeting with their GOP congressional counterparts.
But McConnell’s spokeswoman, Antonia Ferrier, rejected that idea. “They’re in the minority. They go and meet with the president of the United States,” she said.