DEMS/TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump White House is quietly courting a few dozen House Democrats on tax reform — eager to avoid the fate of the GOP’s straight party-line attempt to jam through a repeal of Obamacare.
Even as congressional GOP leaders largely embrace a partisan path on taxes, White House officials have been wooing 15 to 20 centrist House Democrats since early summer. The Trump administration is all too aware of congressional Republicans’ struggles to come together on a range of hot-button issues — from health care to government spending — and tax reform is littered with political minefields for the party.
So the president and his staff are opening a line of communication with moderate Democrats in case a Plan B is needed. At a mid-June dinner at the White House with four centrist House Democrats, President Donald Trump expressed interest in a bipartisan package combining tax reform with infrastructure spending, multiple sources said.
Since then, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and top White House staff have huddled with conservative Democrats in the Blue Dog Coalition and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.”
-Rachel Bade, “Trump White House quietly courts Democrats for tax overhaul,” Politico, Aug. 8, 2017 11:58am