Trump goes to Capitol Hill to set tax strategy, but feuds with his own party dominate the day
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President Donald Trump arrived at the U.S. Capitol to speak with members of the Republican caucus amid a bitter dispute with fellow Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who has been speaking out against the president’s leadership skills. (Oct. 24)
AP
WASHINGTON — President Trump met behind closed doors with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill on Tuesday amid the GOP’s high-stakes push for tax reform — a session that was overshadowed by the president’s escalating war of words with a GOP senator who could decide the fate of that legislative priority.
This was Trump’s first visit as president to the Senate Republicans’ weekly policy lunch, and it comes as House Republicans are scrambling to pass a sweeping budget agreement that would allow Congress to fast-track a tax-cut package. GOP leaders had high hopes for the Capitol Hill huddle, believing Trump could help energize and unify Republicans on the tax reform front as they seek a major legislative accomplishment before the end of the year.
But the president only talked about tax reform in broad strokes, offering no detailed positions, Republican lawmakers said after the meeting. And instead of unity, Trump sparked new tensions as, just hours before his Senate visit, he engaged in a fresh fight with Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who has criticized the president as an unstable and erratic leader.Â
In a series of tweets Tuesday morning, Trump blasted Corker as a “lightweight” who “couldn’t get elected dog catcher.” Corker quickly shot back, calling Trump “utterly untruthful.”Â
Earlier in the day, Corker gave a series of interviews in which he accused Trump of “debasing†the country with false statements and “attempted bullying.” Corker’s broadside was followed later in the day by a second salvo from Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who announced he was retiring and blasted Trump, though not by name, in a speech on the Senate floor.Â
“Reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has become excused as telling it like it is,” Flake said, “when it is actually reckless, outrageous and undignified.â€
Trump did not respond to shouted questions from reporters as he left the Capitol. But GOP senators said the president’s feud with Corker did not come up at the lunch, and Corker said he did not speak with Trump during the meeting. Â
“There were no fireworks,†said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “It was a positive and productive conversation all around.â€
Other lawmakers offered a similarly rosy readout and said no one brought up Trump’s Twitter habits, or his bitter attacks on some of those Republicans in the room. In addition to Corker, Trump has also publicly criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and several other GOP senators.
“We gave him three standing ovations,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. Trump was “very complimentary” of McConnell, Kennedy said, “and he went around and shook hands with people individually.”
McConnell downplayed the Trump-Corker hostilities and insisted it would not distract Republicans from their tax reform push.Â
“If there’s anything that unifies Republicans, it’s tax reform,” McConnell said. Trump and Senate Republicans “share that agenda,” he said, and the president “is going to do a good job” promoting the GOP tax plan.
There’s “a lot of noise out there,” McConnell added, “but there’s great cohesion among Republicans to achieve this goal before the end of the year.”Â
Corker said his disagreements with Trump would have “no bearing” on the tax reform debate.Â
“Tax reform has been something that all of us would like to see happen, and I can’t imagine there’s any senator …  that would vote against something they thought was good policy over some personal issue. I certainly would not do that,” Corker said
Still, many Senate Democrats took in the spectacle with a hint of delight.
“It’s starting to sound like a clean break to me,†Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, said of the Trump-Corker spat.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., used Corker’s own description of Trump — untruthful — to discredit Trump’s tax-reform talking points.Â
“The president said this is not a plan for the rich — blatantly untrue,” Schumer said, adding that the label also applied to Trump’s assertions that the proposal would help middle-class families and would not add to the deficit.
“It’s untruth after untruth after untruth. This plan is a disaster for America,” he said.
Other Democrats said they were disheartened the coarse exchanges.
“All of this is just plain awful,’’ said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. “The broad swings of the president’s thinking is really deeply troubling …  America is getting pulled apart.” Â
The war of words between Trump and Corker comes at a critical time in the GOP push for a massive tax overhaul. And it highlights the uneasy relationship between Trump and Republicans in Congress.Â
The Senate passed its version of a GOP 2018 budget last week, and the House is expected to approve that measure this week. That spending blueprint is vital because it includes language that would block Democrats from filibustering a tax bill, making it easier for Republicans to get it through the narrowly divided Senate.
Read more:
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But even as Republicans coalesce around that broad strategy, they continue to squabble over major elements of the tax cut proposal — mainly how to pay for the tax cuts and how much the package should add to the deficit.
House Republicans had passed a budget that called for tax cuts to be offset with other revenue increases or spending cuts, but they are now preparing to adopt the Senate measure, which would allow a tax package that could increase the national debt by as much as $1.5 trillion over the next decade. Conservatives who had opposed higher debt now say they are willing to accept the Senate plan if it leads to faster passage of a tax overhaul, which many believe will spark economic growth that will make up for revenue lost to lower tax rates.
Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, said Tuesday that conservatives were holding their nose to support the budget because of the promised tax cuts. But, Brat said, if there aren’t ways to pay for those lower rates, then the legislative framework “can’t hold.â€
Corker has also expressed concerns about any bill that would add to the deficit. Republicans can only lose two GOP votes and still get the tax cut bill through the Senate, so Corker’s position will be vital.
“The bill’s got to meet the criteria that I’ve laid out,” Corker said Tuesday. He said so far, the GOP plan is all focused on cutting rates and not on finding ways to make up for the lost revenue.
“It’s more the sugar part of the bill, and the spinach part is what’s coming up,” he said.
Indeed, there’s already a simmering fight over a Republican proposal to pay for at least part of the tax cut bill by eliminating the state and local tax deduction. That could raise an estimated $1.3 trillion in revenue over 10 years, but Republicans whose states rely heavily on that deduction are fiercely opposed to eliminating it.
And Trump shot down another possible revenue source floated by GOP lawmakers: new caps on Americans’ tax-free contributions to their 401(k) retirement plans.
Democrats have suggested they’re open to working with Trump on tax reform, but they’ve blasted the GOP’s initial outline, saying it favors the wealthy. And they say Republicans are making a mistake in trying to fast-track their bill.
“I’m not going to predict failure, but I’m telling you, the notion that they could do this overnight, in a few days … they’re likely to make some colossal mistakes,†Durbin said.
Contributing: Deborah Barfield Berry, Michael Collins and David Jackson Â
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