WASHINGTON, (MILLAT/APP/AFP) – After a crushing defeat
in the effort to repeal Obamacare, the Trump administration is hoping for smoother sailing on tax reform, expecting this will be less divisive among Republican party factions.
“Health care is a very, very complicated issue. In a way (taxes are)
a lot simpler,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday.
And Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday that lawmakers should be
shown details soon.
Several days before the collapse of Republican efforts to repeal and
replace the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration’s signature health
care law, President Donald Trump even promised to advance “the biggest tax cut since Ronald Reagan,” saying it would be “fun.”
But reshaping the entire tax code, something not done since 1986, is
no mean feat. Several presidents, Republican and Democrat, have failed, foundering on procedural hurdles and the delicate compromises needed to succeed.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday the timing of changes
will depend on reaching a grand bargain.
“I think part of this is going to be dependent on the degree to which
we can come to consensus on a lot of big issues,” he told reporters.