Popular vote loser Donald Trump keeps saying that tax reform is on its way (really, he means it, he'll go into "great detail" on it in two weeks—it's always two weeks), but it's starting to seem like tax reform is more of an excuse for Trump to keep going out and having his quasi-campaign rallies than something he actually intends to do. His decision to agree with Democrats on a budget and debt ceiling deal is just one more indication that tax reform isn't necessarily his highest priority, because the deal takes away the Republicans' leverage to get it done by the end of the year.
[Republicans] had been planning to spend December focusing on putting the finishing touches on major tax legislation, their top priority ahead of next year's elections.
But the agreement announced Wednesday guarantees they'll have to also contend with raising the debt limit, always one of the toughest votes lawmakers face, as well as averting a government shutdown—not to mention a slew of other pending business.
That threatens not only to test Congress' bandwidth. It also raises the embarrassing prospect of having to simultaneously raise the legal cap on borrowing while approving deficit-swelling tax cuts.
What's more, it could give Democrats leverage over Republicans' tax plans because the GOP will need their votes to avert a default.
Whether or not Trump meant this to be part of his ongoing war with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or if it's just a happy by-product for him, the results are the same. Democrats go into the tax discussion with some power—if Republicans really want it done by the end of the year, it's going to be linked to debt ceiling and government funding and, Democrats are promising, the DREAM Act.