Cornyn: We probably could have made tax bill better if Democrats had participated – By Julia Manchester (thehill.com) / Dec 17 2017
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said on Sunday that tax reform legislation poised to pass through both houses of Congress this week could have been better if Democrats had participated in drafting the plan.
“Our Democratic colleagues simply refused to participate in the process. We probably could have made it better if they had, but we were determined to get this job done, to cut taxes, to reform the tax code for the first time in 30 years,” Cornyn said on ABC News’s “This Week.”
Cornyn was responding to recent criticism of a last-minute tax break that could give millions of dollars to President Trump and others who receive money from the real estate sector through limited liability corporations (LLCs).
“Picking out one piece in a thousand-page bill and saying this is going to benefit somebody, I just think that takes the whole bill out context,” Cornyn said.
The senator’s comments come as House and Senate Republicans find themselves on the brink of their first major legislative victory of Trump’s presidency in the form of a tax code overhaul.
Trump has said he wants to sign a final version of the bill on Christmas.
Cornyn said he expects the bill will pass the Senate on Tuesday.
PB/TK – It’s DEM’ers didn’t participate in the Tax overhaul game either by their own fault thanks to DEM leadership holding back members from trying to voice opposition in the halls of Congress or simply being left out of the process. Earlier this month Cornyn made the same complaint on social media only to have Dem Sen Chris Murphy respond “I accept!! Tell me where the secret room is where you are writing the bill and I WILL BE THERE!”. But GOP’ers played the ball close to the chest with very little (if any) public campaigning with townhalls and twisted the right wrists with promises and backroom deals to get the Party on board.