“I’m very sensitive to the deficit and the $21 trillion worth of national debt,” said Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.). | AP Photo Trump tax plan gets lukewarm welcome on Capitol Hill

Republicans greeted President Donald Trump's splashy tax rollout Wednesday with muted enthusiasm — hopeful that the tax code could be reformed but eager to hear a lot more details as well as the president’s strategy for success.

Democrats didn’t hold back, slamming the tax outline as a giveaway to the wealthy, which suggests that Trump will have to pass his plan with only the GOP’s narrow majorities.


In the hours after Trump’s principles were unveiled for “the biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country” as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters, it was clear the administration has a lot of work to do on Capitol Hill.

Perhaps the biggest unanswered question facing Republicans is how they can work with Trump on a tax plan that is expected to pay for itself with massive economic growth. Independent analysts worry about the administration’s math. And adding to the deficit presents a politically perilous choice for many Republicans as well as significant legislative complications.

“I’m very sensitive to the deficit and the $21 trillion worth of national debt,” said Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.).

Mnuchin and other Trump officials said they want to work with Congress on shaping a bill that can pass by the end of the year. But the White House is already spurning a key piece of Speaker Paul Ryan’s tax plan — a proposed tax on imports that would help pay for cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, as Trump has proposed.

Ryan downplayed the provision’s absence in Trump’s plan Wednesday.

“We all agree that in its present form it needs to be modified,” Ryan said border adjustment tax at the law firm BakerHostetler. “We don’t want to have severe disruptions — if you’re an importer or a retailer heavily dependent on importers, we don’t want to shock the system so much that it puts them at a disruptive disadvantage.”

Ryan also told reporters that congressional Republicans have been in close contact with the White House. "This is something we've been talking to them all along," he said.

Republican leaders sought to present some sense of party unity with a joint statement from Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that called Trump’s principles “critical guideposts,” but which otherwise provided little specific comment on what Trump laid out.

Rank-and-file Republicans said they hoped for more input from the president and more than the document they saw Wednesday.

“I want to give the president a chance to actually produce a bill,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters. “I would prefer not to add to the deficit, but I’m going to wait and see what the legislative language looks like before I take a hard and fast position on any of this.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said the corporate tax cut could prove “workable, but we’re going to need guidance from the president.”

Some saw Wednesday’s principles as more of a messaging document pegged toward the approach of Trump’s 100th day in office than a clear path toward tax reform.

During a tax reform briefing for Republican congressional staff on Wednesday afternoon, White House Communications Director Michael Dubke belabored the unfair treatment of Trump in the press and defended the administration’s accomplishments, according to multiple GOP aides present who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Democrats ridiculed the outline’s high price tag, the benefits to the richest Americans and the potential to personally benefit the president, who refuses to release his tax returns.

“This is an unprincipled tax plan that will result in cuts for the one percent, conflicts for the President, crippling debt for America and crumbs for the working people,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

Another senior Democrat, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y), said that that the president should release his tax returns before any Democratic engagement on tax reform.

“The president needs to release his taxes,” Crowley said. “We need to know who’s lent him money and who he owes his allegiance to... [and] what effect would this change in tax structure have,” on Trump’s business?

Despite the White House’s hints at seeking bipartisanship, Democrats said the administration has made close to zero effort to involve them in tax reform talks, on both the leadership and committee levels.

Trump’s principles also did not include investments in infrastructure, which had been considered a possibility to woo Democrats.

“This plan is just tax reform,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at an event at the Newseum Wednesday when asked if infrastructure spending could also be included as a way of courting Democrats. The proposal does call for a childcare tax credit that could interest some Democrats.

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Mnuchin also told reporters Wednesday that Trump's tax plan included a potential rollback of the popular deduction for state and local income taxes. That move would be a non-starter with most northeastern lawmakers in both parties, whose constituents benefit heavily from the deduction.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said that the administration had made no outreach to his fellow party members, and wondered aloud whether Trump was even on the same page as congressional Republicans.

“Are we for the border adjustment tax, are we for the president’s plan? It’s not very clear,” Neal told POLITICO, referring to the vagueness of Trump’s proposal. “Has the border adjustment tax succumbed? We need to know.”

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) echoed Neal’s sentiment. “All I know is what I read in the papers,” he said, adding dryly that “obviously, we are not a deficit-conscious Congress.”

The concern over the deficit is not only an issue for fiscal hawks. Republicans are likely to use a complex procedure known as budget reconciliation to circumvent a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and allow passage of tax legislation with a simple majority rather than 60 votes.

But under Senate rules, reconciliation can only be used if the bill will not add to the deficit after a decade. Non-partisan estimates say that even a two or three year temporary cut to the corporate tax rate would add to the deficit in the long run. That’s why House Republicans included major revenue-raisers like the border adjustment tax and a phase-out of a deduction businesses can take for the interest they pay on debt. Both combined would raise trillions over ten years, offsetting the rate cuts.

When pressed by reporters for more details on how to pay for the president’s goals Wednesday, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said simply, “We’ll get back to you with definitive answers on all these details.”