Senate Dems seek compromise on tax plan

Letter signed by 45 Senate Democrats urges bipartisanship

WASHINGTON — Emboldened by the failure of Republicans to pass health care legislation on their own, Senate Democrats are seizing the opportunity to influence the coming overhaul of the tax code with a call for bipartisanship. But the overture got a frosty reception from Republicans despite recent musings about working across party lines.

On Tuesday, 45 Senate Democrats sent a letter to President Donald Trump; the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell; and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, urging them to work with Democrats on a tax plan.

“We are confident that, by working together, we could modernize our tax system to increase working families’ wages, improve middle-class job growth, promote domestic investment, modernize our outdated business and international tax system and put in place sound fiscal policy,” the group wrote.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, and Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, organized the drafting of the letter, which lays out their priorities. Three Democratic senators who are up for re-election next year — Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota — did not sign the letter.

In the conditions laid out in their letter, the Democrats insisted that Republicans return to “regular order” and not try to push a tax bill through Congress using budget reconciliation rules that require only a simple majority in the Senate.