Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday” there is “no doubt” Congress will pass the “terrific” Republican tax reform bill and send it to President Donald Trump for signature before Christmas.
The GOP-led Congress released the final version of its tax reform bill late Friday and placed it on track for a final vote the week before Christmas. Although the Democrats uniformly refuse to vote for the bill and the GOP is struggling to unite enough of its members in a simple majority, Mnuchin expressed optimism the House and the Senate would grant Trump his first significant legislative victory.
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“I have no doubt,” Mnuchin said when host Chris Wallace asked him if he harbored any doubts Congress would pass the bill this week.
“It’s a historic moment and we’re excited to be here,” Mnuchin said. “This has been a terrific process with the House and Senate working together in conference, and there is a terrific bill that’s going to get to the president to sign.”
The Treasury secretary dismissed the Democratic Party’s negativity about the GOP’s tax bill. He told Wallace that “this is a historic event to fix a broken tax system” and will provide “massive, massive economic growth.”
Mnuchin warned, however, that he “can’t rule it out” that the government could face a shutdown at the end of the week if Congress can’t agree on a funding measure.
“I can’t rule it out, but I can’t imagine it occurring,” Mnuchin said. “I would expect that both the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats, understand if they can’t agree on this they need to have another short-term extension to move this to January … We can’t have a government shutdown in front of Christmas.”
Although Mnuchin was optimistic about the GOP tax bill’s prospects and about Congress’ ability to work together temporarily to keep the government running, other Republicans didn’t share his optimism about the direction the party has taken in the year since Trump won the 2016 presidential election.
Related: Chuck Todd to Bernie Sanders: Have Dems ‘Done Enough’ to ‘Stop’ Tax Reform?
Also, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) said Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that, while he’s “always proud” to be a Republican, he doesn’t like what he’s seeing with Trump and his conservative populism at the GOP helm.
“There’s some in the party that look at problems and they’re negative and they’re angry and they’re small,” Kasich said. “And there’s other people that look at the problems and say, ‘We can fix them.'”
Kasich ripped Trump for his strict immigration enforcement policies.
The Ohio governor proceeded to rip Trump for his strict immigration enforcement policies, his emphasis on fair trade agreements, and his campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. He also pointed to Tuesday’s Senate election in Alabama in which Trump-backed Republican Roy Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones amid sexual misconduct allegations.
“But, look, I keep thinking, I look at Alabama, and I say, ‘People are not happy with us being small, angry and narrow.’ They’re starting to say, ‘No,'” Kasich said. “That means that those of us who believe in a positive party are beginning to win.”
PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. You can follow her on Twitter here.
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