Angus King on GOP tax push: ‘To call this a circus would be an insult to circuses’

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) mocked the Republican push to pass a tax-reform bill, saying it was worse than a circus. 

“To call this a circus would be an insult to circuses,” King said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” on Thursday. 

“Believe it or not, Anderson, nobody’s seen it. We’re going to be voting on one of the most important votes we’ll ever take in this body that’ll affect this country for the next thirty years. Nobody’s seen the bill,” he continued. 

King ripped the bill in a separate interview on MSNBC on Friday, saying it was being pushed through quickly because it was a bad bill. 

{mosads}”Like I say, it’s unbelievably complicated. I have a new rule, by the way. This is King’s Rule. The faster a bill goes through, the worse it is, and that’s what’s going on here. As people learn, that’s one of the reasons I predict there will be a vote today because the longer the days go on, more people learn how really terrible this bill is,” he said. 

King’s comments come after three Senate Republicans threatened to kill the bill on Thursday, effectively stalling the process. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is working on a fix to win over Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who would like the size of the tax package reduced over concerns about the deficit.

But McConnell picked up two key votes on Friday when Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) backed the bill after favorable changes to small businesses and so-called pass-through entities. 

Republicans can only afford to lose two votes on the legislation and still have Vice President Pence deliver the tie-breaking vote.

The Senate will hold its next round of votes on Friday at 11 am.