By Gabrielle Seunagal
Following Republicans’ abysmal failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, the GOP announced that their next order of business would focus on tax reform. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady declared that he would schedule a hearing in which the House will review a drafted tax reform blueprint. On April 27, a formal meeting will be held in order to discuss the border adjustment tax, also known as the BAT. Weeks ago, Republicans decided to “move on” from healthcare reform, but they sadly fail to comprehend that employing the same strategies to tax reform as they did with healthcare reform will only result in additional unsuccess.
Despite Brady’s ambitions, Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin asserted that the completion of tax reform may not meet the August deadline. Unfortunately, this news does not come as a surprise due to the GOP’s disastrous attempt to tackle healthcare reform.. Many Americans expected that a Republican House and Senate would be able to easily work together and get bills passed, but apparently this is not the case. There seems to be as much gridlock in Washington as there was prior to the Trump administration. Brady views the matter from a different perspective, due to his remarks that tax reform will be “an incredible achievement” even if it fails to meet the deadline.
Quite frankly, the progress that has been made in Congress is disappointing. The people of this nation were told repeatedly that Obamacare would be repealed and replaced, but when it came time to deliver, our leaders were empty handed. Instead of addressing this failure and working to fix it, Republicans essentially gave up and “moved on.” This is unacceptable and there is no current indication that tax reform will be any more successful than health care reform was.
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