House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady haven’t be able to agree on what the GOP tax reform bill should be named, so President Trump has weighed in. After all, Trump has shown a flair for catchy slogans and memorable phrases, so why not let him give an otherwise dry bill a little pizzazz? Ryan may be regretting Trump’s involvement, though, because what the POTUS reportedly came up with — and is now insisting on — is calling the bill the “Cut Cut Cut Act.”
Trump is said to be attached to the moniker because he feels Americans will have a positive response to the idea of tax cuts. “At the end of the day this will be known as the ‘Trump tax cuts,” said a senior official with knowledge of the naming process to ABC News. And not just tax cuts. Tax cut cut cuts!
What’s interesting about this, though, is less the silliness of a name or the way it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. It’s that the day before the tax reform bill drops, so many crucial details have yet to be ironed out, including certain essential decisions like how to present the bill to the public. The House is also hard at work finalizing other details like deduction thresholds for state and local taxes, child tax credits, property taxes, and what the limit on 401(k)s will be. “The fact that he wanted to name the bill, that is hilarious and perfectly illustrates how — in things both large and small — the Hill can’t quite figure out Trump,” said one anonymous insider.
That kind of disconnect between the POTUS, his cabinet, and the rest of the government is nothing new. But the lack of synchronicity between the Republican president and the GOP-majority house does stand out, especially when the President has chastised Congress in the past over its inability to pass a workable alternative to Obamacare. Once the Cut Cut Cut Act is officially unveiled tomorrow, we’ll find out what, exactly, is in a name, and if it’s something the whole House can get behind.
(Via ABC News)