House and Senate Republicans are “not that far apart” on negotiations for a final tax reform bill to come out of a conference committee that will go before lawmakers by the end of the year, Sen. John Barrasso said Sunday.
Barrasso, R-Wyo., said on “Fox News Sunday” negotiations on a final tax bill are already progressing after the Senate passed their version of tax reform early Saturday morning.
“There will be a conference committee, members of the House and Senate will get together to look for the best solutions. But we are not that far apart,” he said.
“Fundamentally for the American public, we double — double — the standard deduction. Doubled the child tax credits. We will lower the rates. And in terms of investing in America and an ‘America first’ economy, we lower tax rates for Main Street businesses all across the country, as well as corporations to make us much more competitive internationally.”
One wrench that might have been tossed into negotiations this weekend is the issue of the final corporate tax rate in the bill after President Trump said he’d be willing to go to 22 percent.
Barrasso said his preference, and the preference of many Senate Republicans, is to have the final rate be 20 percent.
“Everybody is going to have to decide for themselves how they would vote,” he said. “My preference is 20 percent. I think we have a very good bill out in the Senate. The House has some components. I think this is a major step forward for the American public, we will get this to the president’s desk for his signature before the end of the year.”
He added Republicans are following through on what Americans said they wanted when they put Trump in the White House: fundamental change.
“Let me take a step back to say a year ago the American people voted for fundamental change in this country, and tax reform is a very big part of it,” he said. “People wanting to keep more of their hard-earned money. That’s what you see in the bills that pay us both the House and the Senate.”
