WASHINGTON: This week could decide whether Republicans salvage one of President Donald Trump’s major agenda items during his first year in office or head into a midterm election year with no landmark legislative accomplishments to tout.
In coming days, Senate Republicans hope to pass a bill overhauling America’s tax code, but it is not clear they have the votes from their caucus to do so, given unified Democratic opposition.
As a candidate, Trump pledged to repeal Obamacare, build a wall spanning the U.S. border with Mexico, and cut the taxes Americans pay to the federal government. Today, Obamacare remains the law of the land and not even the White House is predicting when border wall construction might begin in earnest. So what about taxes?
As for tax reform, earlier this month the House of Representatives passed the first major tax bill in more than a decade.
“We need to restore growth, we need to restore opportunity,” said Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, marking the occasion. “We need to restore this beautiful thing we affectionately call “The American Idea’”.
Republicans propose cutting taxes across the board on wages for several years, while permanently slashing corporate taxes and adding $1.5 trillion to America’s national debt over a decade.
