Trump administration hopes Congress to pass tax reform bill by November: official

Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-01 10:40:49|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao
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WASHINGTON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The Trump administration hopes to get the tax reform bill through the Congress by November, a senior White House official said Monday.

The congressional tax-writing committees are expected to develop and draft the tax reform bill after the Labor Day which falls on Sept. 4 this year, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short announced at an event in presence of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the Newseum, an interactive museum in Washington, D.C.

"Those processes are probably played out to get the bill to the House through the month of October, and then the Senate in November, so that I think is an aggressive schedule, but that is our timetable," Short said.

Mnuchin said they are proud of their group of six, representing the House, the Senate and the administration on the same page for the fundamental principles of the tax reform, noting it is "critical" to get the tax reform done this year.

The White House and Republican congressional leaders called for setting aside the controversial border adjustment tax and lowering tax rates for all American businesses in a joint statement on the tax reform released last week.

The six major officials working on the tax reform, known as the "Big Six," include Mnuchin, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.

As Senate Republicans failed to repeal Obama's healthcare law known as Obamacare last week, Republican leaders of the two chambers have vowed to shift legislative priorities to the long-awaited tax reform.

However, the Republican-controlled Congress has to tackle highly contentious budget negotiations for the next fiscal year in September, and raise the debt ceiling in October to avoid a federal government default. It's not clear whether the Trump administration has enough political capital and time to get the tax reform bill through the Congress this year.

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