Congress Expected to Take Up Tax Reform

Congress returns Tuesday from its August recess and tax reform is the next major item on the legislative agenda. 

Both of Ohio’s senators – Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown – serve on the Finance Committee.  Brown says he wants to kill tax breaks for businesses that outsource.  The Trump administration in April proposed a reduction in the corporate tax rate, but has not provided details of how it will fill in lost government revenue. 

Following the defeat of an Obamacare replacement plan that was drafted and supported exclusively by Republicans, Senator Portman says a comprehensive tax code revision should be a bipartisan effort.

“We gotta try to put together something that is more similar to the last time we reformed the tax code which was where you had Republicans and Democrats alike,” says Portman. “It was 1986.  It was Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill and Democrats working together.  In the end it got a big vote because of that and I think that would be better for the country.” 

But the party has faced numerous distractions from its legislative efforts since January because of controversial tweets from the White House. 

Portman says his party was elected to solve big problems and should not lose its focus. 

“Yes, there will be distractions now and again as you see with a Tweet here or there.  We can’t allow that to distract us. We have to push forward.  And by the way, I believe we ought to get back to health care as well.  We can walk and chew gum at the same time in the United States Congress.”

But with the Trump administration's announcement Tuesday that it would end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Congress could have another major item to add to its agenda -- deciding how address the immigration status of an estimated 800,000 so-called Dreamers.