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Trump tests the waters for bipartisan tax reform with White House dinner

KSweeley

Member
Is Trump finally discovering that talking to Democrats might be good? How will his supporters react to Trump reaching out to Democrats after many of them said they want Trump to never talk to Democrats: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/12/trump-bipartisan-tax-reform-dinner-242611

While most Democrats see the GOP's tax reform effort as nothing more than a giveaway to the rich, a few red-state senators are at least willing to hear President Donald Trump out and will dine with him Tuesday evening to see if there is common ground on issues like retirement security and stopping the offshoring of jobs.

The senators — Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana — see little political downside in trying to hammer out a tax deal with Trump.

“I wasn’t sent here to pick and choose who I want to work with. I was sent here to do the job for my state of West Virginia,” Manchin told reporters.

For Trump, bringing the trio to the White House is his biggest step yet in reaching out to Democrats on the one major issue he and fellow Republicans can still score a victory on this year after the collapse of their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. At the same time, it could be a wake-up call to Republicans still smarting from his deal with Democrats to temporarily raise the debt ceiling and fund the government into December.

Marc Short, the White House’s liaison to Capitol Hill, said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast on Tuesday that Trump wanted bipartisan support for a tax plan, after finding that Republicans were “not reliable” when it came to repealing Obamacare.

"We don't feel like we can assume that we can get tax reform done strictly on a partisan basis," he said.

Manchin, Donnelly and Heitkamp are approaching the meeting as an opportunity to find potential common ground on how to overhaul the tax code for the first time in more than three decades. They aren't going in with a heavy list of demands.

At the same time, what the three senators want out of a revamped tax system doesn’t sound all that different from their fellow Democrats — despite the fact they were the only three Democratic senators who declined to sign on to a letter laying out the party’s demands on tax reform.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) are also expected to attend the White House dinner, which comes as an increasing number of Republicans say they’re interested in reaching across the aisle on tax reform and not long after the president struck a debt limit deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said GOP tax writers have long been trying to sound out their Democratic counterparts. “I would prefer this be bipartisan tax reform but, really, we’re hopeful that Democrats will bring us their ideas,” he said.
 

Crocodile

Member
Manchin, Heitkamp and Donnelly are from States Trump won big last year. They were going to show up not matter what as a matter of politics (also this dinner more serves as a way to apply pressure on them). It's unlikely though that the Republicans will put together a tax bill most Democrats will want to vote for - especially if its just a tax giveaway to the rich that blows up the debt.
 
Is Trump finally discovering that talking to Democrats might be good? How will his supporters react to Trump reaching out to Democrats after many of them said they want Trump to never talk to Democrats: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/12/trump-bipartisan-tax-reform-dinner-242611

They'll take it as good news if Trump tells them it's good news. Most will back pedal and say they were always for bipartisan and that only Trump could have done this. The Cult of Trump doesn't care about facts.
 
LOL!

After what Trump did, GOP hates the shit out of him. No chance for bipartisan.

Nah, it'll work. The GOP will stick by Trump while cursing under their breaths about every little thing they lose as a bargaining chip. The Democrats will go in just because it'll be a win over whatever the GOP wants.

The GOP won't turn on Trump because they need the Trump supporters too much.
 

Patryn

Member
The GOP would love for this to be bipartisan, as long as it looks exactly like the bill the GOP wants.

Let's see what happens when it comes to what the Democrats want in the bill.
 

sangreal

Member
Bipartisan tax reform is fine if they don't force it through reconciliation. They will though because they are only interested in trickle down tax cuts not real tax reform. Dems proposed a bipartisan roadmap and McConnell shot it down

The Senate legislative filibuster ensures no bill can pass without bipartisan support unless a party has a supermajority of 60 seats in the Senate.

Tax reform is going through reconciliation, ie 50 votes
 

TaterTots

Banned
This is the second time in a week Trump has crossed the isle. Republican outlets are pretty upset about it. If Trump works something out with those two then its blatantly obvious he wants something in return(I know its how it works), I just wonder what.
 

mnannola

Member
At the same time, what the three senators want out of a revamped tax system doesn’t sound all that different from their fellow Democrats — despite the fact they were the only three Democratic senators who declined to sign on to a letter laying out the party’s demands on tax reform.

For anyone curious, this is why those three were invited.
 
giphy.webp
 
It's unlikely though that the Republicans will put together a tax bill most Democrats will want to vote for - especially if its just a tax giveaway to the rich that blows up the debt

I practically guarantee this is what it will be.

I do wonder what additions would have democrats willing to compromise, because not giving tax breaks to the rich :/ is probably not in the republican plan.
 

avaya

Member
Just an FYI. Last time the US government made a deal on the offshore money held by US corporations - allowing repatriation. None of that shit was spent in the US. It funded more buybacks and dividends.

This time around everyone has already front run the trillions offshore. They've borrowed against it and or funded buybacks and dividends on it.

That shit is never coming back to the US and the European's have finally realised you should just aggressively go after the transfer pricing fuckery.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
I practically guarantee this is what it will be.

I do wonder what additions would have democrats willing to compromise, because not giving tax breaks to the rich :/ is probably not in the republican plan.

there has been leeway on lowering the corporate tax rate, the democrats have previously been open to this in the past
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
I practically guarantee this is what it will be.

I do wonder what additions would have democrats willing to compromise, because not giving tax breaks to the rich :/ is probably not in the republican plan.

What about a tax rate plus closing tax loopholes/offshore money repatriation?
 

Ithil

Member
He's just giving Manchin and co easy material to get reelected with next year in red states. I doubt he realizes this.
 

tokkun

Member
I do wonder what additions would have democrats willing to compromise, because not giving tax breaks to the rich :/ is probably not in the republican plan.

Expanding the EITC is the first one that springs to mind. Democrats like it, and a fair number of Republicans do too because they believe it will reduce the number of people collecting unemployment.

If the bill is not passed through reconciliation it opens up a lot more avenues of compromise, as they could tack on non-budget-related bills. You can imagine things like increased federal funding for fighting opioid abuse as one that might be very appealing among senators from those states.
 
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