The president travels to Springfield, Missouri, on Wednesday to deliver a speech about tax reform. Congress will take up this next legislative agenda item when it returns from its August recess after Labor Day. But don’t expect Donald Trump to roll out a detailed set of proposed reforms and changes to the tax code in Springfield.
The White House is telling surrogates and friendly voices in the media to expect a speech from the president focused on “bringing back” jobs, wealth, and fairness through a reformation of the tax code. That means closing up loopholes for wealthy Americans, simplifying the tax filing process, and cutting business tax rates along with middle class rates. None of this is new—these are the platitudes Republicans have been repeating for years.
As the Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubin writes, the White House is “ceding many of the details to Congress and having the president make the public case for whatever plan emerges.” If that sounds familiar, it should: One of the criticisms of the White House approach to the failed Obamacare repeal effort—which some in the West Wing share—is the president did not take advantage of the power of the bully pulpit to sell the health-care bill to the public.
The president’s advisers want to do better this time, but tax reform has another problem in common with health-care reform: the lack of a specific plan that Republicans on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue could agree on.
VP Watch—While President Trump is in Missouri, Mike Pence will travel to West Virginia on Wednesday. The vice president is delivering remarks at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s business summit, held at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs.
The Greenbrier is owned by Jim Justice, a West Virginia businessman and the state’s current governor. A longtime Republican, Justice was elected last year as a conservative Democrat. But the new governor announced he was switching back to the GOP at a rally with President Trump earlier this month.
Missouri isn’t the only traveling President Trump is doing this week. On Tuesday he and first lady Melania Trump visited Texas to speak with members of his Cabinet and state officials about efforts to save lives and prevent further property damage after the massive and continuing devastation of Hurricane Harvey.
In a Corpus Christi firehouse, FEMA administrator Brock Long briefed Trump on the government’s efforts to feed and shelter Houston’s displaced population.
“All eyes are on Houston, and so are mine. We’ve got a long time to go. We’re still in a life-saving, life-sustaining mission,” Long said. “This recovery is going to be frustrating. We’re going to be here to navigate you through it.”
The president spoke optimistically about the recovery process and praised the government officials heading up the effort.
“You have been terrific, and you have been effective,” Trump told Texas governor Greg Abbott.
After the briefing, the president addressed a small crowd of supporters and protesters that had gathered outside the firehouse. “What a crowd. What a turnout,” Trump said. “We love you, you are special, we are here to take care of you. It’s historic. It’s epic. But I can tell you, it happened in Texas and Texas can handle anything.”
Later on Tuesday, Trump visited the Texas Department of Public Safety in the state capital of Austin to offer words of encouragement to the disaster responders toiling away there before meeting with Cabinet members again.
“Probably there has never been anything so expensive in our country’s history—we’ve never done anything so historic in terms of damage and in terms of ferocity as what we’ve witnessed with Harvey,” Trump said.
The president then turned to HUD secretary Ben Carson in an aside about Harvey. “It sounds like such an innocent name, Ben, right? But it’s not innocent,” said Trump.
Photo of the Day
US President Donald Trump speaks outside of the Annaville Fire House after attending a briefing on Hurricane Harvey in Corpus Christi, Texas, on August 29, 2017. Photo credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.
The president returned to Washington Tuesday night, but White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump plans to return to Texas at the end of the week.
“We are definitely going back to Texas on Saturday and possibly Louisiana on Saturday as well, depending on the weather conditions there,” she said. “We’ll go back into a different part of the state, to have a chance to see some of the areas we were not able to today.”
Corpus Christi, which lies on the Gulf of Mexico, was hit by Harvey. But it was points north, particularly in Houston and its surrounding area, that received the brunt of the damage and still face massive flooding. Sanders said Trump’s goal with Tuesday trip was not to “disrupt any of the recovery or search and rescue efforts.”
First Lady Statement of the Day
“I want to be able to offer my help and support in the most productive way possible, not through just words, but also action. What I found to be the most profound during the visit was not only the strength and resilience of the people of Texas, but the compassion and sense of community that has taken over the State. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people of Texas and Louisiana.”
Mueller Watch—From CNN: “Special counsel subpoenas Manafort’s former attorney and spokesman.”
Song of the Day—“Do I Wanna Know?” by Arctic Monkeys.
