Trump, Ryan Make Public Push for Tax Reform

What Happened:

President Donald Trump took his push for a tax overhaul to North Dakota this week, where he delivered a reform-focused speech and tweeted that lawmakers need to start figuring out tax legislation "ASAP."

The president on Wednesday traveled to Mandan, North Dakota for the speech on the importance of reforming the U.S. tax code – both for businesses and for individual Americans.

Trump didn't reveal many new details during his speech – though he did confirm an interest in abolishing the estate tax and lowering tax burdens on pass-through companies. But House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin offered up more specifics less than 24 hours later, when he said Republican lawmakers are aiming to effectively double Americans' standard deduction while maintaining charitable-giving and mortgage-related tax deductions.

Ryan said he expects details of the Republican plan to be made public relatively soon and for a tax overhaul to be finalized by the end of the year.

What It Means:

Ryan and Trump did not appear to be on the same page on details like businesses' ideal tax burden – Trump has said he wants 15 percent, while Ryan said it would be "hard" to make that work and instead vouched for something closer to 22.5 percent.

But their timelines appear to be in order. Trump warned lawmakers in a series of tweets Friday to "hurry" and not to "wait until the end of September" to get going on tax legislation – while appearing to suggest the GOP should temporarily abandon efforts to repeal former President Obama's heath care law in favor of figuring out a new tax code.

Ryan, likewise, said Congress can "walk and chew gum at the same time" and doesn't think tax reform efforts will be a problem given lawmakers' already packed fall schedules.

Still, at least some Democratic support is expected to be necessary to pass permanent tax tweaks by conventional means. Trump was joined in North Dakota by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, and said he thinks he'll have the lawmaker's support in reforming the tax code. But Heitkamp has yet to endorse Republicans' upcoming tax plan, so it remains to be seen whether there will be sufficient support for a lasting overhaul.