Hosting a group of Republican senators at the White House, President Trump said Tuesday that he and the GOP lawmakers are “all on the same page” as Congress races to complete tax-cut legislation before Christmas.
“There’s a great spirit in the Republican Party like I’ve never seen before — like a lot of people said they have never seen before,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “We’re all on the same page. I think something is going to be coming out of conference pretty quickly as opposed to long term.”
The Senate approved the $1.4 trillion tax-cut plan on Saturday; the legislation now moves to a House-Senate conference committee.
Mr. Trump referred to his lunch guests, who included frequent Trump critic Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, as “this wonderful group of Republican senators.”
“They have never seen anything like this community so I think a lot of very good things are going to happen and they are going to happen very fast,” the president said.
They were also discussing the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Mr. Trump has threatened to kill if it can’t be improved on terms more favorable to the U.S.
“We’re going to look at NAFTA very seriously….It’s going to very successful,” the president said.
Also attending the luncheon were Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Administration officials included U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Legislative Director Marc Short and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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