Vice President Mike Pence Believes Tax Reform Will be Done By Christmas

EXCLUSIVE: VICE PRESIDENT PENCE BELIEVES TAX REFORM WILL BE DONE BY CHRISTMAS

In an exclusive interview with CBN News, Vice President Mike Pence says he believes tax reform will be signed into law by Christmas. “We believe it will,” Pence tells CBN’s David Brody. “President Trump and I have been working literally around the clock with members of the Senate and before that with members of the House of Representatives and we really believe that before Christmas comes, we’re going to deliver to the American people the largest tax cut in American history.” Vice President Pence spoke with CBN News Thursday morning from the library at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington DC. 

The Senate is expected to vote on the tax reform package late Thursday night or early Friday morning. GOP deficit hawks want to see a mechanism put in place that would raise taxes in case the economy doesn’t continue to grow. The Vice-President told us that this “trigger” request is appropriate. “We have worked very closely with Senator Corker (R-TN) and Senator Flake (R-AZ) and others and believe that, putting the kind of backstop in the legislation that will ensure that in the event of an unanticipated economic downtown that we don’t see a significant increase in our debt and our deficit, is appropriate.”

You can see more of the interview with the Vice-President this Friday on The 700 Club.

Full Transcription:

David Brody:  Tax reform: Is it going to be in the Christmas stocking stuffer? Is this going to get done by Christmas? What’s the prediction?

Vice President Mike Pence:  Well, we believe it will. President Trump and I have been working literally around the clock with members of the Senate and before that with members of the House of Representatives and we really believe that before Christmas comes, we’re going to deliver to the American people the largest tax cut in American history and as the President has said, it’s going to be a middle class miracle. This is tax relief that’s going to benefit working families across this country with real and immediate tax relief. The average American family will have more than $1,200 in their pockets when this passes, but more than that, we’re going to reform our business taxes in this country so that companies large and small can begin to compete with companies around the world again, and that will create jobs and we also know that by reducing taxes on businesses, we’ll see wages rise in this country and so we’re very close. We’re going to continue to work closely with members of the Senate to move legislation this week, then it will be off to what’s called a conference committee to work out the differences but we really do believe that as the President said just yesterday that the American people are going to get a great Christmas present this year and it’s going to get a big, beautiful tax cut that will benefit their families and benefit this growing American economy.

David Brody:  Speaking of that economy, what about the concern about the deficit, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, friends of yours who say, ‘Hey wait a minute here, we hope the economy keeps humming’ but is there going to be some sort of trigger mechanism that they want to raise rates if the economy doesn’t continue to hum?

Vice President Mike Pence:  Well, we really believe that by lowering taxes on working families and businesses large and small that we’re going to see the growth in this economy that’s already taking place really kick into high gear, but look, we respect the fact that members of Congress want to make sure that five or six years down the road if unforeseen circumstances cause a downturn in the economy that we make sure and not add a burden of debt to our children and grandchildren, but I think from the President on down, we really do believe that by allowing Americans to keep more of what they earn, allowing businesses to be able to reinvest in ways that will create jobs and opportunities, that we’re not only not going to see deficits from these tax cuts, but when they’re all fully implemented, we think you’re going to see not only incomes rise in this country, our economy grow, but you’re also going to see the federal government have even more resources to provide for our military, to meet the obligations that we’ve made to people through all the various programs and we think this is really all about growth and it’s going to result in a growing economy.

David Brody:  So the White House would be okay with a trigger at this point if that needed to happen, a trigger to raise tax rates, what Flake and Corker and others are saying?

Vice President Mike Pence:  We have worked very closely with Senator Corker and Senator Flake and others and believe that, putting the kind of backstop in the legislation that will ensure that in the event of an unanticipated economic downtown that we don’t see a significant increase in our debt and our deficit, is appropriate but I want to say to you again that President Trump is the eternal optimist. He really believes that when you let Americans families keep more of what they earn, when we’ll lower that business tax rate that right now is one the highest in the industrial world, we’re going to lower it down to 20 percent, we’re going to lower taxes on small businesses as well that are the real job creation engine in this economy, that we’re going to see the kind of growth that will benefit every American family, every American community and it will result in the kind of growth that will help our government meet our obligations and ultimately drive toward that goal of even reducing our debt and our deficits in the future.