December 01, 2017

Manchin holds conference prior to GOP tax reform bill vote | Dominion Post

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., held a short press conference the morning of Dec. 1 before heading to the Senate floor to vote on the GOP tax reform bill.

“We have not seen the bill,” Manchin said. Efforts to secure moderate Democrat involvement and support for the bill earlier in the week failed. “They’re determined to do it without even trying to get a democrat to work with them.”

Manchin said he planned to offer an amendment to make some temporary tax cuts for the working and middle class permanent. Asked if that would help swing him to a yes vote, he said, “That would sure help me an awful lot.”

Manchin said that the bipartisan Joint Tax Committee has projected the bill as is would lead to an additional $1.5 trillion in debt. He favors altering the GOP proposal to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent, and reduce it to 25 percent, which would save the loss of $500 billion.

With barely a minute to get to the floor to vote, he said, “We’re trying awful hard. This is not the right way to do it.”