Senate GOP reveals different approach on tax reform: Senate Republicans revealed their own version of tax-reform legislation Thursday, breaking with President Trump by offering a one-year delay to the corporate tax cut, and with House Republicans by completely repealing a deduction for state and local taxes.
The Senate bill also keeps in place the estate tax as well as a variety of popular tax credits and deductions for adoption, medical expenses, teacher expenses, and graduate school.
The differences likely set up a difficult conference negotiation between the chambers later in the year, assuming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) can round up enough votes to pass the legislation — an uncertain prospect at this point.
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The Senate Finance Committee unveiled details of the legislation to Republican senator during a special morning meeting in the Senate’s Strom Thurmond Room.
GOP leaders hope to bring the legislation to the floor after Thanksgiving.
The Senate legislation has the same basic framework as the House bill: It cuts the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, establishes a lower tax rate for pass-through businesses and cuts individual rates.
But in a big shift with the House bill, it would delay the corporate tax cut for one year, to 2019.
That would save the Senate money, which could be used to make changes to other deductions.
But it will be a disappointment to President Trump and House Republicans who say it is important to lower the corporate rate immediately to create jobs and help U.S. companies.
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton and Jordain Carney report: http://bit.ly/2AyHxST.
GOP tax bill clears hurdle, heads to House floor: The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved House Republicans’ bill to rewrite the tax code, advancing one of the GOP’s top legislative priorities after four days of debate.
The measure — which reduces the number of individual tax rates, slashes the corporate tax rate and eliminates many deductions and credits — was approved on a party-line vote of 24-16.
The only changes made to the bill during the markup were from amendments offered by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas).
Thursday afternoon, Brady made a number of changes to the bill which included restoring the adoption tax credit, additional tax relief for pass-through businesses and higher tax rates on repatriated foreign earnings. Brady also offered an amendment on Monday.
Brady said the amendment “takes action on three crucial priorities — helping American families, providing tax relief to Main Street startups and increasing American competitiveness.”
“Americans deserve a new tax code for a new era of prosperity, and today we deliver,” Brady added: http://bit.ly/2AxeVcj.
House to vote next week on GOP tax plan: The House will vote on the GOP tax bill next week, in line with its promise to pass its version of the legislation before Thanksgiving.
“Millions of families are counting on us. Millions of small business owners are counting on us,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said of the bill. “The House will vote on this bill next week to deliver a win for the American people.
The bill is the centerpiece of the Republican legislative agenda, but GOP lawmakers still face serious obstacles before their tax plan can be signed into law. Here’s more from The Hill’s Niv Elis: http://bit.ly/2AxUY5w.
And check out The Hill’s Whip List, to see where Republican lawmakers stand on the House bill.
Dow drops on report that Senate GOP will delay corporate tax cut: The Dow Jones Industrial Index fell by more than 200 points Thursday after reports that GOP senators plan to delay a massive corporate tax cut until 2019.
The Dow was down more than 220 points within one hour of The Washington Post reporting that the Senate GOP tax-overhaul bill would delay cutting the corporate tax rate for two years. That’s less than 1 percent of the Dow Jones Industrial’s value, which stood at 23,492 when the day began.
The House, Senate and Trump administration are united behind cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. But House leaders and President Trump have called for an immediate tax cut.
The Dow closed the day down 101.42 points. http://bit.ly/2AxVgJE.
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Trump blames predecessors, not China for unfair trade practices: President Trump in China on Thursday blamed past administrations instead of Beijing for “unfair” trade practices, offering a starkly different tone from the rhetoric he used during his campaign.
Trump said during an event in Beijing that he does not place blame on China for what he described as “one-sided and unfair” trade practices, noting he gives “China great credit.”
“I don’t blame China,” he said. “After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit if their citizens? I give China great credit.”
“But, in actuality, I do blame past administrations for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow,” Trump said: http://bit.ly/2AxG0ME.
Blue Dog Democrats taking hard line on GOP tax bill: Blue Dog Democrats are lining up in firm opposition to the Republicans’ tax code overhaul, hoping that Tuesday’s election results will force GOP leaders to reach across the aisle for a bipartisan alternative.
The Blue Dogs had initially expressed an eagerness to join Republicans in the push for sweeping tax reform, which stands among the GOP’s top priorities. But the fiscally minded Democrats are quickly racing away from the GOP proposal, largely over projections the bill will hike taxes on millions of middle-class families and lead to a spike in deficit spending.
“Let me just be quite honest,” said Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Blue Dog. “There is no way I can support it.” http://bit.ly/2AxesH9.
Schumer warns House Republicans that tax bill ‘could be your political doom’: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a warning shot to House Republicans on Thursday, saying they will face political consequences if they support getting rid of the state and local tax deduction.
“I say to every one of my Republican colleagues in the House who come from a suburban district: This bill could be your political doom,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.
“This should be a three-alarm fire for every House Republican in California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Illinois, Colorado. … You’ll pay a price. House Republicans should kill the bill now if they want to have any hope of stopping the full repeal of state and local deduction,” Schumer said. http://bit.ly/2AuTUiJ.
Adoption tax credit restored after conservative backlash: A tax credit for adoptive families has been retained in both the House and Senate GOP tax bills, following pushback from socially conservative lawmakers and anti-abortion groups.
The credit was initially removed in the House version of the legislation, but an amendment released Thursday from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) retained it.
Preserving the credit “will ensure that parents can continue to receive additional tax relief as they open their hearts and their homes to an adopted child,” Brady said Thursday during the fourth day of the committee markup.
The Senate legislation also preserves the credit, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said. The bill is set to be unveiled Thursday.
Religious groups, as well as House and Senate conservatives, pushed for the credit to be retained. They argued that by eliminating the credit, the bill went against the GOP’s anti-abortion platform: http://bit.ly/2AyJfDN.
Cohn says CEOs are ‘most excited group’ about GOP tax plan: White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said Thursday that U.S. corporate executives were the “most excited” people about the House GOP tax plan.
Cohn told CNBC that American CEOs are thrilled about the Republican plan to slash taxes for businesses, insisting the plan would make the U.S. more competitive with international corporations.
“The most excited group out there are big CEOs about our tax plan,” said Cohn, who was COO of Goldman Sachs before joining the White House.
“They all tell me how excited they are to get a tax plan that makes the United States competitive, makes it so they can grow their business domestically, makes it so they can actually pay wages here.” http://bit.ly/2AyZ6Ca.
Graham: ‘Financial contributions will stop’ if GOP doesn’t pass tax reform: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned GOP donors will quit giving to Republicans if Congress does not pass tax reform.
“The party fractures, most incumbents in 2018 will get a severe primary challenge, a lot of them will probably lose, the base will fracture, the financial contributions will stop, other than that it’ll be fine,” he said, according to a tweet from an NBC News reporter that was shared by the South Carolina Republican’s account: http://bit.ly/2AxH2Z2.
Estate tax not fully repealed in Senate tax bill: The Senate proposal to rewrite the tax code will not include a full repeal of the estate tax, according to a senator briefed on the soon-to-be-released draft plan.
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) made the comments Thursday when GOP lawmakers were briefed on the details of the proposal.
The House version of the tax rewrite phases out the estate tax, which Republicans have derided for years as a “death tax.” Lawmakers in the lower body are debating that plan in committee this week and hope to vote on the full measure next week. http://bit.ly/2AyxrRJ.
AT&T chief denies Justice Department asked for CNN sale: AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson on Thursday denied reports that the Justice Department wanted CNN sold as a condition for allowing a merger between the telecom giant and Time Warner.
“First and foremost, irrespective of what you read yesterday, I have never been told that the price of getting the deal done was selling CNN. Period,” Stephenson said at The New York Times’ Dealbook Conference.
“And likewise, I have never offered to sell CNN,” he continued, adding that the news network is at the center of his company’s business strategy.
“I don’t even know who in the DOJ is saying these things,” said Stephenson.
Justice Department sources told The Hill and other outlets on Wednesday that AT&T had offered to sell CNN from the combined company to get the merger approved by regulators. Other outlets reported that the Justice Department had demanded the sale: http://bit.ly/2yolGMl.
Small-business group backs Brady’s tax bill amendment: The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) expressed support for the amendment from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) after opposing the initial version of the tax-reform bill.
“We are very grateful to Chairman Brady for listening to our concerns and working with NFIB to ensure that tax reform benefits the greatest possible number of American small business owners,” NFIB President Juanita Duggan said in a statement.
“This amendment would create substantial tax relief for millions of small business owners who were left out of the original bill. We urge Republican and Democratic members of the House to support this amendment going forward.”
Brady’s amendment would create a new 9-percent tax rate for the first $75,000 of income of a married active owner who has less than $150,000 of “pass-through” business income. http://bit.ly/2ymNrEU.
Poll: Support for GOP tax plan edges downward: Backing for the Republican tax-reform plan is decreasing slightly, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Thursday, but more Americans still support the overhaul than oppose it.
Forty-five percent of respondents who are aware of the tax plan back it — a decrease from the 48 percent who supported it last week. Thirty-six percent of respondents are now against the tax measure.
Forty-two percent of those questioned for the new poll said they believe the tax overhaul would positively benefit the American economy, while 22 percent said it would have a negative effect: http://bit.ly/2ynVAZS.
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