GOP Tax Plan: McConnell Sets Stakes for 2018

Despite the low poll numbers for the tax bill that is headed to President Donald Trump's desk soon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) is confident it is a political winner.

"If we can't sell this to the American people, we ought to go into another line of work," he said Friday at a 1 a.m. ET news conference in the Capitol, giving Democrats a suggestion they would like to take up.

Mr. McConnell and GOP senators say that when Americans see their paycheck withholding get smaller in February, and if they see faster economic growth and rising wages, they will be seeing the benefits of the tax bill.

Democrats have criticized the Republican priorities by noting that cuts in corporate tax rates are permanent while individual cuts are temporary. Republicans made that decision to fit it inside the procedures they chose that let them pass the bill on a simple majority, as they did on a 51-48 party-line vote.

Democrats will be defending seats in states Mr. Trump won, including North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Montana, Missouri, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Indiana. With Doug Jones's victory in Alabama, Democrats will need a net gain of two seats to take control. Republicans are defending open seats in Arizona and Tennessee, and in Democratic-trending Nevada.

"They're all committed to repealing it and raising taxes on the American people," Mr. McConnell said of Democrats. "That's what's at stake in the fall of 2018."

--Richard Rubin

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 20, 2017 06:12 ET (11:12 GMT)