Trump attempts to sell GOP tax plan with Missouri trip

The Associated Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Senators on tax and budget struggle, Trump meeting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell complained about top Democrats backing out of White House meeting while Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on President Trump to stop tweeting. (Nov. 28)

WASHINGTON — President Trump will return to Missouri on Wednesday as he tries to push the Republican tax plan across the finish line.

Trump is expected to once again emphasize the plan's benefits for Main Street as he tries to sell the plan in the St. Louis suburbs. While the White House says the plan will be a boon to middle-income families, helping small business owners and workers, sparking economic growth and simplifying the tax code, critics say both House and Senate versions will disproportionately help the wealthy and corporations.

The visit marks Trump's second to the state to sell his plan. During his trip to Springfield in August, Trump pledged the plan would "bring back Main Street" he tried to make a populist pitch.

The trip comes a day after the Senate Finance Committee advanced a sweeping tax package to the full Senate, handing Republican leaders a victory as they try to pass the nation's first tax overhaul in 31 years. But the bill still faces hurdles in the Senate with at least six senators raising sometimes contradicting concerns.

Senior administration officials briefing reporters ahead of the trip said Trump is expected to once again call out Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, a top Republican target in next year's midterm elections. She voted against the plan in a Senate Finance Committee vote earlier this month.

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"Our focus is on helping the folks who work in the mail room, in the machine shops of America, the plumbers and the police officers, the store clerks and secretaries. All of the people who give their best each and every day to take care of their families and the people that they love," Trump is expected to say in front of an audience of about 1,000 people in St. Charles, according to an excerpt from the speech. "It is not enough for the middle class to keep getting by, we want them to start getting ahead."

Trump in August said that that if McCaskill didn't support his plan, voters should push her out of office.

"We must lower our taxes, and your senator, Claire McCaskill, she must do this for you. And if she doesn't do it for you, you have got to vote her out of office," Trump said then.

Among the officials expected to greet Trump at the airport: Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley, who is running for McCaskill's seat.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to preview the president's remarks.