Koch pumps up Trump agenda
Network puts ‘full weight’ behind effort to get tax overhaul through Congress
In a major jolt of support for President Trump, the powerful political network overseen by conservative billionaire Charles Koch is launching a multimillion-dollar campaign to drive Trump’s tax plan through Congress.
Koch, who viewed Trump’s candidacy warily, is racing to build public and congressional support for plans to overhaul the tax code.
Trump’s one-page tax blueprint, released last month, includes plans to slash the corporate tax rate, reduce taxes for high-income earners and abolish the federal estate tax.
The group plans to throw “the full weight of the network” be- hind the campaign, which has the goal of passing a tax overhaul this year, said James Davis, a top official in Koch’s Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.
Davis would not disclose a specific dollar amount but said the effort would include advertising and mobilizing grass-roots activists.
The chaos and controversy engulfing Trump’s White House threaten his legislative agenda on everything from taxes to a plan to rebuild the country’s infrastructure. Network officials see a window to push the tax plan this year, well in advance of the midterm elections that could risk Republican control of Congress.
“If you don’t do it now, it becomes increasingly difficult,” Davis said.
The network ranks among the most influential players in conservative politics. It has operations in 36 states and its own grass-roots arm and for-profit data and marketing branches. About 550 ultra-wealthy donors help finance the constellation of political and non-profit groups associated with Koch and his brother David.
Those groups plan to spend $300 million to $400 million on policy and political campaigns before the 2018 elections.
Although Koch opposes Trump’s travel bans and questions the president’s skepticism of free-trade policies, the head of one the country’s largest industrial conglomerates praised Trump for several actions, including his move to dismantle “unnecessary” federal regulations.