Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., dismissed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s attacks on GOP tax proposals for being “almost unhinged,” as congressional Republicans work to pass comprehensive reform by the end of 2017.
“Nancy Pelosi has said this is the end of the world and this is Armageddon. The statements are almost unhinged,” Barrasso told John Catsimatidis on New York’s AM 970 radio station Sunday, referring to Pelosi’s characterization of the GOP’s efforts to overhaul the U.S. tax code.
Barrasso also counterpunched against Democratic criticism that the floated tax measures are too generous to corporations at the expense of individuals, particularly middle income earners.
“People like Nancy Pelosi run for office so they can basically try to grow the government,” Barrasso said, adding people like him seek public office to “grow the economy” through “tax and regulation relief.”
“For her it may sound like Armageddon, but for me it sounds like freedom,” he continued.
While Barrasso was unsure how the House and Senate would reconcile different approaches to local and state tax deductions adopted by the two chambers, he was confident his colleagues in the House would support the Senate’s initiative to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate provisions in the final bill.
“On Obamacare, on the healthcare law, we have turned it from a mandatory program to a voluntary program,” Barrasso said. “The way we’ve done that is by eliminating that mandate, that tax, that says if you don’t buy that government-mandated insurance you have to pay a fine, a fee or a tax, whatever you want to call it.”
GOP senators voted on Wednesday to form a conference committee with the House to strike a deal on their divergent plans.
Congressional Republicans want to pass legislation changing the U.S. tax system by Christmas.
