The conference report combining the U.S. House and Senate versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act should be available at the end of the week, according to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas.
"Any final agreement will be reflected in the conference committee report," Brady said when asked about what to expect from the report, details of which have leaked, including capping the top personal income tax bracket at 37% and lowering the corporate tax rate to 21% from the current 35%. "We expect that to occur at the end of the week … I'm not going to comment on where we've reached common ground, but to say we continue to reach common ground."
Brady disputed the idea that top-line information about the conference report might be released Dec. 13, when asked by a reporter about comments from Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., indicating that that might occur.
The leading Democrats on the committee said they were frustrated with the lack of bipartisan discussion about the plan and its provisions.
"I think one of the frustrating parts that [Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore.,] and I talked about today in there is he's being asked to respond to a Senate bill that was already passed," said Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal, D-Mass. "I'm being asked to respond to a House bill that was already … passed. There is no conference. There is no movement back and forth. There is no amendment discussion."
Wyden called the afternoon session "a reality show version of a conference committee."
Inside the hearing room, Republicans and Democrats traded accusations of ignoring reported truths about the effects of the legislation, culminating in some partisan sparring.
"Thank god I'm wearing my cowboy boots today. You know why cowboys wear cowboy boots? To keep their damn pants clean from the horse manure that comes from people that don't know what the hell they're talking about," said Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. "If we're wrong, you ought to be happier than the devil … you can say, 'Look what the Republicans did … they hurt you. They hurt your economy.'"
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., later quipped that "when you create the manure, you have to walk in it."
