GOP leaders don’t take Ron Johnson’s tax reform threats seriously

The Wisconsin Republican is holding out for changes that would put the tax treatment of small businesses on a more equal footing with major corporations. Negotiations with Senate GOP leaders and President Trump on adjustments to assuage Johnson’s concerns have made progress, and Johnson did vote for the motion to begin debate on the package Wednesday evening. The senator, however, said his concerns remain, and they’re not frivolous.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his lieutenants, accustomed to Johnson’s bluster, aren’t that worried. The senator often fumes about key aspects of major legislation and complains about being excluded from the drafting process, only to vote “yes” upon final passage.

That’s what happened during debate over the ultimately failed proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Republicans expect that will be the case again on tax reform, even if the package isn’t amended to Johnson’s satisfaction.

“There’s no way he’s going to vote against it. Mitch McConnell’s team knows that,” said a Republican operative who has worked with Johnson in the past and is tracking the tax bill for industry clients. The operative requested anonymity in order to speak candidly and not upset delicate negotiations.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Johnson said that his threats to oppose the tax bill are “absolutely” not idle.

Johnson explained that he isn’t content with the alterations to the original tax overhaul proposal, nor is the senator any happier with the legislative process that led to the bill — even though, unlike the Obamacare repeal bill crafted behind closed doors in McConnell’s office, this package went through the policy committees of jurisdiction.

Despite his gripes, Johnson voted to advance the legislation in the Budget Committee a day earlier and did so again on the Senate procedural vote to open debate that passed along strict party lines Wednesday night. Indeed, Johnson sounded like he was leaning “yes” overall.

“A big factor in my mind is the fact that we’ve retained the repeal of the individual mandate,” Johnson said, referring to the provision in the bill that would eliminate the Obamacare mandate to purchase health insurance.

“That is a really big factor in my mind. Which is a big difference from when I said I couldn’t support the tax package. When it first came out, that was not included it,” he added.

Johnson, 62, was re-elected to a second term last year. He previously owned and operated a plastics manufacturing company in Wisconsin that made him wealthy. The career businessman has often chaffed under the seemingly arbitrary and irrational political considerations that govern the legislative process.

That has put Johnson at odds with McConnell, with whom he has had a contentious relationship.

Johnson didn’t bother hiding his disgust with McConnell during the debate over the GOP’s failed Obamacare repeal bill. Their rift was born, at least partly, from the senator’s belief that McConnell unfairly pulled resources from his 2016 re-election campaign and left him for dead.

Johnson downplayed his feud with leadership on Wednesday, conceding that they have a difficult job in attempting to overhaul the federal tax code, last accomplished 31 years ago. Senior Republicans are reciprocating, describing Johnson’s concerns as genuine and his role in negotiating changes as productive.

“He’s got a lot of information and a valid area to look at,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., an elected member of McConnell’s leadership team, said. “I hope he feels like he’s had the kind of input that you’d want to have.”

Privately, many Senate Republicans are as annoyed with Johnson as he appears to be with them.

The senator is described as abrasive, difficult to work with, and egotistical, even by the standards of the Senate, where most members tend to believe they’re smarter and more important than their colleagues.

That orneriness was on display Tuesday during the Senate GOP’s weekly luncheon, Republicans in attendance told the Washington Post, and it’s wearing a little thin.

“Senators generally have a lot of tolerance for their colleagues who have differences of opinion, but Ron Johnson actively seeks to have differences of opinion just to be a jerk,” a Republican operative with relationships in the Senate told the Washington Examiner.

“After he was criticized for complicating efforts to repeal Obamacare, he vowed to vote for any ‘pro-growth’ tax plan, but predictably here we are again,” the operative added. “At this point, the most popular government program in the conservative universe would be sending Ron Johnson on a yearlong fact-finding mission to anywhere but here.”