tax reform

Speaker Paul D. Ryan has a message for American families who only hear cynical talk coming out of Washington: “Don’t fall for it.”

Specifically, the Wisconsin Republican was addressing cynicism surrounding his top legislative priority of rewriting the nation’s tax code, which he acknowledges will be a heavy lift.

Amid a Senate Republican impasse over health care, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan is trying to pivot to two other major priorities: rewriting the tax code and overhauling welfare programs.

“Welfare reform and tax reform are the two big things” Republicans need to get done this fall to complete their agenda for the year, as well infrastructure, Ryan told talk radio host Mike Gallagher on Wednesday.

House Republicans are readying for a possible floor vote on a fiscal 2018 budget resolution as soon as next week, but with support for the plan currently shy of the 218 votes needed, action could be delayed weeks or even months.

After more than a month of negotiations, the House Budget Committee will mark up the fiscal blueprint on Wednesday. Floor action before the August recess appears to be the goal, and with several conservatives and moderates withholding support, that’s a target leaders will likely miss.

House Republicans have spent a month arguing over key pieces of a budget resolution that faces little chance of passage in the Senate. But they are focused less on the endgame than staking out their own position.

House members frequently view legislation they have passed as a marker for their position heading into bicameral negotiations.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday reiterated a commitment to overhauling the tax code this year but offered no new details on how they plan to do so. 

In separate addresses to a National Association of Manufacturers summit, Ryan and Pence said 2017 is the year Congress will rework the tax system. 

House Republicans face the possibility of failing to pass a full budget resolution for the second year in a row, despite making progress on their goals for a fiscal 2018 budget resolution.

The stakes are much higher than last year as the budget, through the reconciliation process, has become a tool for Republicans to advance legislation without Democratic support, something they lack on nearly all of their top priorities.

BY LINDSEY MCPHERSON AND JOE WILLIAMS

Republican leaders are applying a lesson learned from health care to the tax overhaul debate: build consensus before releasing a bill.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are considering a push for broader reconciliation authority in the upcoming fiscal 2018 budget resolution that would allow Republicans to pursue policies beyond a tax code overhaul.

“We believe that writing the instructions more broadly will give us greater flexibility not only to get tax reform but also to address other areas simultaneously,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said in an interview here Friday.

Republicans have said a tax code rewrite will be easier than the health care overhaul that continues to elude them. Whether or not that proves true, a few intraparty battles likely lay ahead on taxes.

The GOP is united around the goal of a tax code overhaul. Republican lawmakers used Tax Day on Tuesday to highlight their shared vision for cutting tax rates, simplifying the code and spurring economic growth.

STAFFORD, Va. — Rep. Rob Wittman provided an update on congressional affairs to the local governing body here Tuesday evening. It was his fifth constituent meeting of the day.

Meanwhile, just over 30 miles northwest in Nokesville, Virginia, citizens held a mock town hall to discuss the congressman’s voting record.