Ryan says tax reform ‘absolutely critical’ even as president seeks return to healthcare battle
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Donald Trump and Paul Ryan: opposing priorities have emerged over the weekend © AP
The rift between Donald Trump and lawmakers from his own party widened on Sunday as the president clashed with one of its senior leaders in Congress over
how to reset the Republicans’ agenda after a week of turmoil in the administration.
As Mr Trump prepared to bring in John Kelly as chief of staff to try to restore order in the White House, Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, urged Republicans to make progress on tax reform, saying it was “absolutely critical”.
His words came after Mr Trump urged Senate Republicans to return to healthcare reform following last week’s collapse. “Don’t give up Republican Senators, the World is watching: Repeal & Replace...” the president said on Twitter.
Mr Trump’s presidency suffered some of its most turbulent days last week, culminating in the replacement of Reince Priebus as chief of staff by Mr Kelly and the rejection by senators of plans to repeal and replace Obamacare, a campaign promise.
The president’s priorities are at odds with fellow Republicans’ desire to lower personal and corporate tax rates, which Steven Mnuchin, Treasury secretary, once predicted would be done by now.
Tax reform has progressed far more slowly than senior GOP leaders hoped. “It is more important for us than anything that we get tax reform done because we think it’s absolutely critical for strong economic growth,” Mr Ryan told Fox News. “I don’t think we can get to 3 per cent growth without tax reform.”
The president also lashed out at China over the weekend following North Korea’s test of a missile that US experts said could reach most of the US. “I am very disappointed in China ... they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!” Mr Trump wrote in a pair of tweets.
Mr Trump spent much of the weekend lobbing insults and threats at his GOP colleagues, saying that their failure on Friday to repeal Obamacare left them looking like “fools.” He also threatened to revoke subsidised healthcare coverage for lawmakers and their staffs and called for a change in Senate rules that Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has previously rejected.
With Mr Trump dropping to just a 36 per cent approval rating in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, and congressional Republicans more divided than ever, Mr Kelly, who will be sworn in on Monday, faces formidable obstacles.
Unless Trump suddenly becomes more disciplined about tweeting random thoughts and freelancing on policy, the White House will remain a house of horrors
JACK PITNEY
The White House has spent months consumed by the fruitless healthcare fight, is behind schedule on tax reform and suffers from the president’s tendency to announce initiatives without the customary preparation.
Just days ago Mr Trump announced an about-face on the military’s handling of transgender personnel that caught the Pentagon by surprise and left White House officials unable to answer basic questions about implementation. “Kelly might help a little around the edges but, unless Trump suddenly becomes more disciplined about tweeting random thoughts and freelancing on policy, the White House will remain a house of horrors,” said Jack Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College, California.
Though Mr Trump likes to bill himself as a “winner,” he is unable after six months in office to boast of a single big legislative victory. By this point in their first terms, George W Bush had signed into law a 10-year, $1.4tn tax cut and Barack Obama had notched up an $800bn economic stimulus programme.
Donald Trump addresses Congress in February, overlooked by Mike Pence and Paul Ryan © Getty
Mike Pence, vice-president, who led efforts to corral votes in the recent healthcare fight, could also play a bigger role in pushing Mr Trump’s stalled agenda. However, although Mr Pence spent 12 years as a member of the House, he passed no major legislation.
Nor will the president’s haphazard approach to policy help. “On healthcare, he promised great care at a fraction of the cost: the problem was that such a promise was impossible to keep,” said Mr Pitney. “On tax reform, the challenge is to pay for lower rates by eliminating tax preferences, each of which has a battalion of lobbyists to fight for its existence.”
Mr Trump’s insistence on pursuing healthcare has consumed months that could have been devoted to tax reform — a priority for the GOP as it approaches the 2018 elections.
Taxes are not the only unfinished business. Mr Trump’s proposal to modernise roads and bridges has gone nowhere. Congress is also gearing up for a closely fought battle over the 2018 budget and the need to lift the $19.8tn ceiling on national debt by mid-October.
“So, as long as Trump continues to be Trump, the disorder will continue,” said Ross Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist who has been a consultant for congressional Democrats. “If the captain of a ship runs it aground, the fact that he has an outstanding executive officer will not rescue the voyage.”
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