Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn pushed back Sunday against Democrats griping about the tax reform bill, saying they have refused to participate despite being invited to do so by Republicans.
“Our Democratic colleagues simply refused to participate in the process,” Mr. Cornyn, Texas Republican, said on ABC’s “This Week.” “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.”
His comments came in response to complaints by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, who has accused Republicans of moving to trigger Medicare reductions with the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts.
Mr. Cornyn rejected the assertion that Medicare benefits would be affected by the tax-reform legislation..
“Well, that’s just a false statement,” Mr. Cornyn said. “We don’t touch Medicare at all. We don’t touch any of the entitlement programs in this bill. And so for Ms. Pelosi to make that statement, it’s just fabricated.”
He added: “We will deal with that later this week. And I believe we will protect Medicare. And if Ms. Pelosi and her party will join us, that will be a done deal.”
Also lashing out at the Republican tax-reform bill was Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who called it a “huge giveaway to big corporations.”
“[T]his is a total betrayal of President Trump’s economic populist message on the campaign trail,” said Mr. Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat.
This sly last minute addition to the #GOPTaxScam particularly benefits one group: Real estate moguls like @realDonaldTrump. Urging my Republican colleagues to put personal profit and politics aside, it’s still not too late to do the right thing. https://t.co/svRfDZelps
— Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) December 17, 2017
He accused Republicans of making a “sly last minute addition” to the tax bill aimed at benefiting real-estate moguls, based on a Saturday report in the International Business Times by former Democratic operative David Sirota and two others.
Host George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton White House adviser, said the provision “could mean tens of millions of dollars to President Trump and other Republicans. Do you have any idea how that got in? Any chance it could be taken out?”
Mr. Van Hollen replied, “I don’t know how it got in. What we do know is they’re behind closed doors,” adding that the provision would be “a windfall to Donald Trump based on everything we know.”
Mr. Cornyn dismissed the eleventh-hour flap and defended the legislation, which is expected to pass the House and Senate this week and arrive at Mr. Trump’s desk by Christmas.
“This will benefit hard-working American families, people in the lower income tax brackets, and everybody in every tax bracket will see a tax cut,” Mr. Cornyn said. “So picking out one piece in a 1,000-page bill and saying, well, this is going to benefit somebody, I just think that takes the whole bill out of context.”
He said it’s not too late for Democrats to throw their support behind the tax-reform bill.
“As I said, our Democratic colleagues had every chance to participate and simply refused,” said Mr. Cornyn. “And it’s not too late for them to join us in passing this massive tax cut and tax reform bill which will help awaken the sleeping giant of the American economy. They can do that on Tuesday, and I hope some of them will.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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