Seeking agreement on tax reform, Donald Trump again seeks out Democrats
WASHINGTON – President Trump is again trying his hand at bipartisanship.
Pushing changes to the tax code, Trump is meeting again Wednesday with groups of Democrats, including party leaders Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California.Â
The meetings come just one week after his debt ceiling agreement with the Democratic leaders Trump somewhat affectionately called “Chuck and Nancy” angered some Republicans and scrambled the expectations for their legislative strategy through the end of the year.
Buoyed by the deal, Trump appeared confident about the next possible deal: tax cuts.Â
“The approval process for the biggest Tax Cut and Tax Reform package in the history of our country will soon begin. Move fast Congress!” Trump tweeted, just hours before another meeting with a group of House moderates who could hold the balance of power on close votes. Â
The approval process for the biggest Tax Cut Tax Reform package in the history of our country will soon begin. Move fast Congress!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2017
In his morning tweets, Trump linked his efforts to pass tax cuts with the need for recovery efforts from hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
“With Irma and Harvey devastation, Tax Cuts and Tax Reform is needed more than ever before. Go Congress, go!” Trump tweeted.Â
With Irma and Harvey devastation, Tax Cuts and Tax Reform is needed more than ever before. Go Congress, go!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2017
In pushing new legislation with Democrats, Trump has argued that cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code will spur economic growth, helping recovery in communities damaged in the recent storms.Â
Most of the names on the White House’s guest list for the meeting with House moderates – eight Democrats, five Republicans – belong to the self-described “Problem Solvers†caucus, led by Reps. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J.
Despite Trump’s enthusiasm for a deal, skeptics note that that neither the Trump administration nor Congress have a specific tax plan yet – the focus of a series of meetings Trump has held in recent days. And others questioned the relation between tax reform and hurricane relief – including key congressional Democrats such as Schumer.
Criticizing the president’s tweet, Schumer said tax reform should benefit the middle class, not the wealthy – and should not be tied to hurricane relief at all.  “With all due respect to the president, a tax cut, particularly one for the very wealthy, is not going to help Florida or Texas rebuild from these storms,” the Senate Democratic leader said.
Economic analyst Stan Collender, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University, said the president has no way to leverage hurricane relief against a tax bill when it comes to votes in Congress.
“Trump isn’t going to veto a hurricane relief bill if it doesn’t include tax reform and Congress isn’t going to be ready to do tax reform when the next relief dollars are needed,” Collender said. “More than anything, this shows that Trump doesn’t understand legislative politics or process.Â
While Trump says he wants to work on tax reform with Democrats – a group he often ignored during the health care debate earlier this year – some Republicans also questioned whether that strategy would work.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., pointed to an August letter from 45 Senate Democrats saying they would not cooperate on plan that cuts taxes for the wealthy, increased the federal budget deficit, or allowed Republicans to pass a bill on their own.
“If you look at the conditions that they stipulate for working with us on a tax bill it’s pretty clear they’re not interested in working with us,” Toomey said Wednesday on MSNBC.
Yet Republicans are wary after last week, when, in an apparent rebuke to the leaders of Republican congressional majority, Trump cut a deal with Schumer and Pelosi, securing a three-month extension of the debt ceiling and the current federal spending plan.
And Trump’s White House dinner meeting with Schumer and Pelosi could hold promise for cooperation on other fronts.Â
Schumer and Pelosi are pushing Trump to change his health care policies – and protect undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country illegally by their parents. Trump has announced the end of the Obama-era policy that protected these 800,000 young immigrants from deportation, and gave Congress six months to fix it.Â
On Tuesday, the White House appeared to try to clear the way for a deal on protecting the so-called DREAMers, a move which could have bipartisan backing in Congress.
White House legislative director Marc Short said Trump is not insisting Congress fund a wall along the southern U.S. border as part of a legislative fix to address the fate of DREAMers. Trump is interested “in solving the issue of DACA,” Short said, and “believes this is an issue Congress has failed on.”
More: Trump official: White House may not link DREAMers to border wall funding
Trump’s bipartisan push this week began at dinner Tuesday night at the White House with a group of senators in both parties.
The White House said that Trump and his guests discussed “advancing the administration’s legislative priorities, in particular tax cuts for the middle class.”
One of the Democratic dinner guests, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, lauded the session as “productive.”
While Manchin called for “a simpler tax code that lowers rates for West Virginians and incentivizes Main Street businesses,” he also said that cuts should not further contribute to a federal debt that now exceeds $20 trillion.
“We must do this without adding to our staggering debt,” said Manchin, who faces a tough re-election battle next year.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has clashed with Trump on some issues, said he would “love to have the Democrats supporting and working with us in a constructive way on tax reform,” but he pointedly added that “we’re going to do it no matter what.â€Â
Contributing: Eliza CollinsÂ