GOP/TAXES: “Republican dreams for revamping the tax code rest, for now, in the hands of six men.
The officials from the House, Senate and White House—which some aides have taken to calling ‘The Big Six’—aim to overcome in months the internal divides and systemic obstacles that have blocked a major U.S. tax code rewrite for 31 years. Informed by stinging lessons from the slow-moving health policy debate and animated by the partywide desire for legislative victories before the 2018 election, they have emerged from their occasional private meetings and steady staff work with vague but consistent optimism.
The group is composed of two lawmakers with their own tax plan, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady; two veterans of Washington political warfare, Sens. Mitch McConnell and Orrin Hatch ; and two Trump administration representatives more schooled in the ways of Wall Street than Washington, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.
The idea is that each member—knowing what his side can tolerate—will sign off on the same detailed framework in September so Republicans can complete the major tax legislation they have campaigned on but haven’t written yet.”
-Richard Rubin, “GOP Tax Overhaul’s Fate Rests on ‘Big Six’ Talks,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 7, 2017 10:22am