Top Democrats reopen 2017 playbook on Trump tax cuts
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met Wednesday to try to re-create the magic Democrats found in 2017, when they turned President Trump's original tax cuts into political poison for the GOP majorities.
Why it matters: Grassroots Democrats are demanding to see real action immediately. But top Democrats are eyeing a different date: November 2026.
- Their goal is to develop a unified message ahead of the midterms and take back at least one chamber of Congress.
- They'll have to temper the expectations of activists who want quicker results, while also keeping them motivated to support Democrats in the coming campaigns.
Zoom in: Democratic leaders firmly think their life in the minority will be shorter if they seize on the right messaging opportunities, not every messaging opportunity.
- They want to avoid responding to Trump's outrages du jour and develop a deeper narrative about what unified Republican control means for working families.
What's next: Democratic leaders are eyeing the 2018 midterms as a blueprint, when they made Trump's tax cuts so unpopular that Republicans barely mentioned it in their campaign messaging.
- Democrats are salivating at the opportunity to message against even deeper tax cuts being paired with broad slashes in federal spending, especially on health care.
The bottom line: Democrats are powerless to stop the GOP's filibuster-proof plans to cut taxes and federal spending. But details of the Republican playbook read like a wishlist for Democratic campaign operatives.
- The (at minimum) $1.5 trillion in spending cuts the GOP is considering, in addition to $4.5 trillion to pay for tax cuts, includes hundreds of billions in reduced Medicaid payments and cuts to food assistance and student loan aid.
- "This is all about clearing the path to cutting taxes for billionaires, and making the American people foot the bill," Schumer said Wednesday from the Senate floor.
