BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX Conce rn With S s Abound Quest enators io BAT W ning Effect s On Thould Have eir Sta te IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS Senator ROY BLUNT (MO): “Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the fifth-ranking GOP senator, said the Finance Committee will likely go a ‘different way.’” (Rachael Bade, Burgess Everett & Eliana Johnson, “Ryan Struggles To Sell Tax Reform Plan To Fellow Republicans,” POLITICO, 2/16/17) Senator JOHN BOOZMAN (AR): “At least seven GOP senators have expressed concerns about border adjustment, including Utah’s Mike Lee, Arkansas’s John Boozman, Georgia’s David Perdue and Texas’ John Cornyn.” (Richard Rubin, “GOP Plan To Overhaul Tax Code Gets Held Up At The Border,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/7/17) “Per Kaustuv Basu and Laura Davison of Bloomberg BNA, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) said that he’s definitely hearing from Wal-Mart about the House plan, and that he still has questions about the currency aspect of the proposal.” (Bernie Becker, “Everyone Gets A Coalition,” POLITICO Morning Tax, 2/2/17) Senator JOHN CORNYN (TX): “The demise of the border adjustment tax was met with relief by Republicans in the Senate, who had been cool to it from the start. On Tuesday, Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said it was safe to conclude that the provision was ‘not going anywhere’ because of skepticism in the Senate.” (Kulie Hirschfeld Davis, Alan Rappeport, Kate Kelly, Rachel Abrams, “Trump’s Tax Plan: Low Rate For Corporations, And For Companies Like His,” The New York Times, 4/25/17) “Many unanswered questions about proposed ‘border adjustment’ tax.” (Sen. John Cornyn, Twitter Feed, 1/26/17) “Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn was diagnosing Ryan’s plan to replace the U.S. corporate income tax with a new, ‘border-adjusted’ levy on U.S. companies’ domestic sales and imports. The proposal has stirred sharp divisions among businesses: Retailers, automakers and oil refiners that rely on imported goods and materials oppose it, while export-heavy manufacturers support it. So far, the opponents are winning, interviews with lawmakers, lobbyists and tax specialists show. As Congress prepares to depart Washington for a one-week break, Cornyn said he didn’t see the votes lining up for the House leaders’ plan. ‘The hard reality is the border tax is on life support, and given the imperative of 51 senators and 218 House members and one president, I think we need to look for other options,’ he said.” (John McCormick, Anna Edgerton & Ben Brody, “Ryan Makes Emphatic Plea For Tax Plan Seen ‘On Life Support,’” Bloomberg, 2/17/17) AMERICANS KeepAmericaAffordable.com PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS Senator TOM COTTON (AR): “Tom Cotton revealed himself Wednesday as an obstacle in the Senate to the House Republican plan to border-adjust corporate taxes. The Arkansas Republican took to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to express ‘grave concerns’ about the idea, portraying it as a tax increase on consumers at Walmart, the massive retailer headquartered in his home state that has opposed the proposal … But Cotton, in his prepared speech, compared the term ‘border-adjustment’ to Orwell’s newspeak. It would raise taxes on ‘working Americans who’ve been struggling for decades while the rich keep getting richer.’ ‘Why would we make their stuff at Walmart more expensive?’ he asked rhetorically. While advocates of the border adjustment feature have argued that the dollar would appreciate in response, leaving importers no worse off, Cotton expressed doubt. ‘This is a theory wrapped in speculation inside a guess,’ he argued.” (Joseph Lawler, “Tom Cotton Launches Broadside Against House GOP Import Tax,” Washington Examiner, 2/15/17) “The next day, Sen. Tom Cotton took to the Senate floor to slam Ryan’s so-called border adjustment tax, saying ‘some ideas are so stupid only an intellectual could believe them.’ ‘Many other senators share these concerns and we most certainly will not ‘keep our powder dry,’ Cotton went on, without naming the speaker in his speech.” (Rachael Bade, Burgess Everett & Eliana Johnson, “Ryan Struggles To Sell Tax Reform Plan To Fellow Republicans,” POLITICO, 2/16/17) Senator TED CRUZ (TX): “As for whether the border adjustment tax should factor into the current tax reform push in Congress, Cruz declined to say but noted some of the concerns he has heard. ‘There’s no doubt that one of the most controversial aspects of the House tax plan is border adjustability, and I think there are many folks in our economy who are concerned about the impact that it would have, particularly on retailers, and those arguments carry considerable weight,’ Cruz said Monday. ‘I know in the Senate, there are a number of senators who are deeply concerned about that aspect.’” (Patrick Svitek, “Ted Cruz Concerned Democrats Will Trigger Government Shutdown,” The Texas Tribune, 4/17/17) “‘The contours of it, the details of it, are very much up for debate,’ Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told a recent Federalist Society gathering. ‘There are disagreements within the House, within the Senate, between the House and the Senate, and with the administration.’” (Kevin Diaz, “‘Border Tax’ Central To Texas Lawmaker’s Tax Reform Plan,” San Antonio Express-News, 4/9/17) Senator CORY GARDNER (CO): “Republicans from agriculture-dependent states are worried about retaliatory tariffs if the United States raises taxes on imports. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said a border adjustment tax will hit farmers hard. ‘If you were to go to a farmer and say what does a border adjustment tax mean to you, they might try to sell the farm right then,’ he said.” (Alexander Bolton, “Graham: Ryan Tax Plan Won’t Get 10 Votes In The Senate,” The Hill, 2/19/17) AMERICANS KeepAmericaAffordable.com PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS Senator JEFF FLAKE (AZ): “I take to the floor today to express my concerns with the Border Adjustment Tax. The Border Adjustment Tax is quickly becoming the centerpiece of a planned overhaul of our tax and trade policies. I am certain that I am not the only one hearing that this approach could make everyday consumer products more expensive at the very places middle-class families shop the most … I look forward to working with my colleagues to lower corporate and individual rates, eliminate costly tax earmarks, and make our tax code flatter, simpler, and more conducive to growth. There will always be winners and losers in a robust debate on reforming the tax code. We ought to make sure the middle class isn’t in the losing column.” (“VIDEO: Flake Urges Caution On Border Adjustment Tax,” Senator Jeff Flake, 3/8/17) Senator LINDSEY GRAHAM (SC): “‘I’m glad the border adjustment tax died. It was so complicated. I couldn’t explain it; it gave me a headache,’ said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. ‘I can understand going to 15 versus some other number, so this is a good start. I support the idea of lower rates.” (Alex Daugherty, “White House Unveils Tax Plan That’s Broad On Goals, Short On Specifics,” McClatchy DC, 4/26/17) “Border security yes, tariffs no. Mexico is 3rd largest trading partner. Any tariff we can levy they can levy. Huge barrier to econ growth /1.” (Senator Lindsey Graham, Twitter Feed, 1/26/17) “Simply put, any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila, or margaritas is a big-time bad idea. Mucho Sad. (2)” (Senator Lindsey Graham, Twitter Feed, 1/26/17) “South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested it’s unlikely the House Republican ‘A Better Way’ tax blueprint will make it through the Senate during an appearance on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ Sunday. Graham noted a number of members have hesitations about the proposal’s language on border adjustability, which would tax imports while excluding exports. ‘The Congress is stumbling. Republicans in the Congress – we’re all tied up in knots,’ he said. ‘The House is talking about a tax plan that won’t get 10 votes in the Senate.’” (Juliegrace Brufke, “Graham Says House GOP Tax Plan Is Likely Dead In The Senate,” The Daily Caller, 2/19/17) Senator CHUCK GRASSLEY (IA): “Opponents of border adjustability haven’t ‘got anything to worry about’ because the Senate isn’t going to entertain that idea, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said. ‘If the Senate starts working on a tax bill of its own, you aren’t going to hear anything about border adjustment in the Senate Finance Committee,’ he told reporters April 3.” (Colleen Murphy, Laura Davison & Kaustuv Basu, “Hill Briefs: Tax Reform Battles; IRS Asset Seizure Bill,” Bloomberg BNA, 4/4/17) AMERICANS KeepAmericaAffordable.com PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS Senator ORRIN HATCH (UT): “House Republicans may need to rethink their border adjustment plan to tax imports and exempt exports after two leading senators said they doubt the proposal could pass their chamber. ‘I don’t see that happening, not the way the House has configured it,’ Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said Feb. 17.” (Aaron E. Lorenzo & Laura Davison, “GOP Faces Tax Plan Dilemma as Senate Snubs Border Adjustment,” Bloomberg BNA, 2/17/17) Senator RON JOHNSON (WI): “Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) said he does not support the tax, a promise the president made to voters in Johnson’s home state where Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes. ‘I don’t think the border adjustment tax has a chance of passage,’ Johnson, a former manufacturing executive, said in an interview.” (Will Drabold, “The Biggest Threat To Trump’s Promise Of Job Creation Might Just Be Senate Republicans,” Mic, 3/28/17) “Ron Johnson, a Republican senator from Wisconsin, is pushing [American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Economist Alan Viard’s tax plan which would cut the corporate tax rate without needing the Border Adjustment Tax]. Citing studies that find corporate taxes are partly borne by a company’s workers, he says in an interview: ‘Rather than make the employees pay the tax, let the owners pay the tax.’ Mr. Johnson would like corporate shareholders to be taxed at the same rate as ‘pass-throughs,’ entities such as limitedliability corporations, whose profits are taxed in the hands of the owners at individual rates. The corporation itself wouldn’t owe tax. Instead, it would notify each shareholder of its share of annual profits and then forward that shareholder’s estimated tax to the Treasury.” (Greg IP, “A Plan B For The GOP: Raise Warren Buffett’s Taxes,” Morningstar, 3/8/17) Senator MIKE LEE (UT): “’Donald Trump Warns on House Republican Tax Plan,’ ran the Wall Street Journal headline Monday morning. The story focused on the then-president-elect’s concerns about ‘border adjustment,’ a clever but controversial idea House Republicans have hit upon for taxing imports and exports. They hope it might serve as an alternative to President Trump’s stated preference for tariffs. In the story, Trump was quoted as saying, ‘Anytime I hear border adjustment, I don’t love it.’ For all the controversy the remark caused, I have to say, I was encouraged. I think he may have been right. I’m not sure I love border adjustment either, and I think it’s for many of the same reasons. Border adjustment is ‘too complicated,’ as Trump put it, and its success depends on a theory about international exchange rates that, if it doesn’t work out, could ravage huge swaths of our economy.” (Sen. Mike Lee, “How Congress And Trump Can Reform Taxes To Put America First,” The Federalist, 1/23/17) “.@SenMikeLee won’t support House GOP’s border adjustment tax. Emphatically rejects idea & is applauded by Koch donor audience.” (Jonathan Swan, Twitter Feed, 1/28/17) AMERICANS KeepAmericaAffordable.com PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS “Senator Mike Lee of Utah told Koch network donors: ‘This ends up becoming a VAT-like substance and I think it would end up having a lot of the negative characteristics of both a VAT and a tariff ... I really don’t like it.’” (Jonathan Swan, “Border Adjustment Has A Senate Problem,” Axios, 2/2/17) Senator JOHN MCCAIN (AZ): “U.S. Sen. John McCain this week denounced the idea for a 20 percent border tax on imports, saying such a levy would ‘destroy Arizona’s economy’ … McCain, who has defended the North American Free Trade Agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada as economically beneficial to Arizona, was unequivocal about his rejection of the border tax in comments made Thursday to Politico. ‘It’ll destroy Arizona’s economy. That’s my only concern,’ McCain is quoted as saying. ‘First thing will happen is that there’ll be retaliation. You think the Mexicans are going to sit still for it?’” (Dan Nowicki, “Sen. John McCain Slams Border-Tax Proposal,” AZ Central, 3/24/17) “Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) once said the House plan would get fewer than 10 votes in the Senate – and his partner-in-crime, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), made it clear Thursday that he wouldn’t be one of them. ‘It’ll destroy Arizona’s economy. That’s my only concern,’ McCain told Morning Tax, with more than a hint of sarcasm. ‘First thing will happen is that there’ll be retaliation. You think the Mexicans are going to sit still for it?’ he added, noting that Arizona has a lot of jobs reliant on cross-border trade.” (Bernie Becker, “What Does It Mean?” POLITICO Morning Tax, 3/24/17) Senator MITCH MCCONNELL (KY): “Several of the executives said Trump and his aides had closely read their briefing papers, and they were far more impressed with the president than with Speaker Paul Ryan, who seemed to ramble on tax policy. One person familiar with their meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was brief, and he ‘basically just told us that the border adjustment tax was dead.’” (Josh Dawsey & Ben White, “CEOs Steering Trump Away From Bannon’s Hardcore Policies,” Politico, 4/13/17) Senator LISA MURKOWSKI (AK): “‘In an oil producing state such as Alaska, we can see a real benefit in exporting oil, but we’re also dependent on importing fuel,’ the Energy and Natural Resources Committee chair said. ‘I’m not interested in anything that is going to increase the price of gasoline in Alaska. I think [a border tax] is something we need to look at very, very critically.’” (Ben Lefebvre, “Cornyn, Murkowski Dis Border Tax, Trade Protectionism,” POLITICO Pro, 3/10/17) AMERICANS KeepAmericaAffordable.com PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS Senator RAND PAUL (KY): “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) noted that there was some overlap between the House plan and the tax proposal he released when he was running for president. But the Kentucky Republican also shook his head at GOP leaders’ push for revenue-neutral tax reform, which border adjustment would help them achieve, and said he’d already heard from concerned automakers in the state over the plan’s tax on imports. ‘It did have a difference between imports and exports similar to what they’re talking about, so the concept itself I’m not completely opposed to,’ Paul said, comparing his plan to the House’s. ‘But I would only want it in the context of a very low-tax situation.’” (Bernie Becker, “The Unknowns About Currency,” POLITICO Morning Tax, 2/1/17) Senator DAVID PERDUE (GA): “Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) shot down House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) call for a border-adjustment tax on Saturday, saying such a proposal would be ‘dead on arrival’ in the Senate. ‘Right now, in the Senate anyway, I think the border-adjustment tax is dead on arrival,’ Perdue told radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York. ‘It’s a tariff, it’s regressive on a low-income consumer and a middle-income consumer. It really is counter to growth.’ ‘It’s nothing but a tariff, and that’s the last thing we need,’ he added of the proposal to tax imports and exempt exports.” (Max Greenwood, “GOP Senator: Border Adjustment Tax Would Be ‘Dead On Arrival’ In Senate,” The Hill, 5/7/17) “On a proposed tax overhaul: He expressed broad support for simplifying tax structure and reduce the corporate income tax rate, but he drew the line on the House GOP proposal for a so-called border adjustment tax to be levied on some imported goods. ‘I think the border adjustment tax is DOA in the Senate,’ he said.” (Greg Bluestein, “David Perdue: It’s Time To Work With Democrats On Health Law,” AJC.com, 4/11/17) “The so-called ‘border-adjustment’ idea is key to a House GOP blueprint for overhauling individual and corporate taxes – a plan that includes generous tax-rate cuts across the board … Senator David Perdue, a Georgia Republican and a businessman before he was elected to the Senate in 2014, said he opposes the idea.” (Sahil Kapur, “House Tax Chief Pitches Border-Adjusted Plan That Trump Snubbed,” Bloomberg, 1/26/17) “Senator David Perdue of Georgia is a former CEO of Dollar General who has a deep understanding of the effects of border adjustment on retail. He said on CNBC: ‘In my view, it’s regressive. It just hammers lowincome and middle-income consumers, and it really doesn’t foster growth.’” (Jonathan Swan, “Border Adjustment Has A Senate Problem,” Axios, 2/2/17) “A critical provision of the House Republicans’ tax plan is facing more resistance in the GOP-controlled Senate. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., urged his colleagues Wednesday to reject the so-called border adjustment tax. The proposal would put a 20 percent tax on imports into the U.S. while making exports tax-free. Under the House plan, it would coincide with slashing the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 20 percent. Perdue argued in a letter that the tax is ‘regressive, hammers consumers and shuts down economic growth.’ ‘For sure, the tax code needs substantive change, but when Congress combines good ideas with bad ideas into a single sweeping bill, the bad ideas become law. This proposed border adjustment tax is a bad idea and should not become a permanent part of our tax code,’ Perdue wrote.” (Jacob Pramuk, “The Idea Of A Border-Adjusted Tax Just Ran Into Trouble In The Senate,” CNBC, 2/9/17) Senator Rob Portman (OH) KeepAmericaAffordable.com AMERICANS PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS “Republicans should pursue a ‘more traditional’ approach to corporate tax reform that does not include the House’s border adjustment import tax provision, Sen. Rob Portman told CNBC on Wednesday. Portman, director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush, said on ‘Squawk Box’ he understands some of the economic reasons for the border tax. But he advocates ‘simplifying the darn thing’ by building consensus around conventional means of providing relief to businesses such as lowering the rates and broadening the base.” (Matthew J. Belvedere, “An Influential GOP Senator Throws Cold Water On The Polarizing House Border Tax Provision,” CNBC, 3/29/17) “Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a former U.S. trade representative, said at the WSJ event that there could be issues with whether the World Trade Organization views the border-adjustment proposal as compatible with its rules. The WTO allows border adjustments for consumption taxes. The question is whether the corporate tax in the House blueprint would be eligible to be border adjusted, since it allows a deduction for wages, Portman said. ‘Most of the trade experts I talked to say they’re concerned about that, that this could be incompatible,’ he said. ‘Some people say it is, some people say it isn’t.’ ‘That concerns our exporters a lot, because if it’s not deemed to be compatible, then other countries could retaliate against the United States,’ he added.” (Naomi Jagoda, “Vulnerable Senate Dem: Border Tax Concerning For Agriculture,” The Hill, 3/23/17) “Meanwhile, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a Finance member, would only say: ‘I do understand the need to be more competitive but I want to be sure that we do so in a way that does not cause dislocation in the economy.’” (Bernie Becker, “Everyone Gets A Coalition,” POLITICO Morning Tax, 2/2/17) “[Senator Rob] Portman, while saying he has ‘some concerns’ about a border tax, said he did not ‘want to be negative about any proposal out there because we should be encouraging reform. But I don’t want to spend the next year squabbling about this,’ Portman said. ‘I want to find a common ground.’” (Jack Torry, “Retailers Rise Up Against Border Tax,” Dayton Daily News, 2/17/17) Senator PAT ROBERTS (KS): “But at the same time, [Senator Pat] Roberts underscored just how hard it will be for Republicans to coalesce behind one approach when he spontaneously bashed the House GOP’s border adjustment plan. ‘I know there’s a lot of folks for it in the House, but to the chairman of the Agriculture Committee that looks like sort a diving board to jump into a trade war. I think we’d need to rethink that right off the bat.’” (Bernie Becker, “Clock Is Ticking,” Politico, 5/30/17) “Senators are weighing some of those same consequences for the agriculture industry. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, told Tax Analysts that he was worried that imposing a tax on imports to the United States and exempting domestic exports would encourage foreign countries to raise their import taxes on U.S. products. ‘Right now, my main concentration is what we can put together for a farm bill,’ said Roberts, also a member of the Senate Finance Committee. ‘We’re going through a very rough patch right now in agriculture,’ he said, adding that while the border provision is ‘something to talk to about,’ there is a need to ‘focus on any compromise that would be helpful. But right now, that just hasn’t happened.’” (Dylan F. Moroses, “Republican W&M Members Try to Sell Border Tax With Phase-In,” Tax Analysts, 5/26/17) AMERICANS KeepAmericaAffordable.com PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS Senator LUTHER STRANGE (AL): “Right now, knowing what I do about it, I would not [vote for the Border Adjustment Tax].” (Fox Business Network, 3/30/17) Senator PAT TOOMEY (PA): ANCHOR: “One last one, the border adjustment tax, Speaker Ryan is still for it, it’s still in the reform plan. Are you for it?” TOOMEY: “So, I think it has a lot more merit than it’s often given credit for, but I honestly think it would be a very, very tough sell in the Senate. And I don’t think they’re big fans at White House so, I think we’re probably going to end up without having much of a border adjustment provision in the final product.” (FOX Business, 5/25/17) “As for U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, he told WFMZ-TV in Berks County earlier this week that the advantage of a border tax is an ‘unproven theory’ and lawmakers need to tread lightly. ‘I think something as big and dramatic that has that much potential for dislocations is something we ought to be really, really careful about,’ Toomey said.” (J.D. Prose, “Border Tax Opponents Say It Will Decimate Pennsylvania Businesses,” The Times, 4/20/17) “If you become the U.S. Trade Rep, of course you will be responsible for negotiating the deals that accomplish whatever these goals are. And I’m concerned this is the wrong top priority. I’m concerned because I don’t believe that trade deficits are inherently a serious problem. I think if you choose to address reducing deficits by expanding American exports that’s great, and I’m sure that will be one of your goals. We certainly want to tear down barriers to American products. The problem is we’ve also gotten very clear indication, at least from Mr. Navarro, that there will be an effort also to reduce imports, which is another way to reduce the size of the trade deficit. And I think that would be a big mistake for several reasons. One, it would invite retaliation. It would almost certainly result in retaliation that would diminish American exports. And that would certainly be very bad for us. Second is, whatever mechanism one uses to reduce imports, whether it’s quotas or tariffs or bureaucratic hurdles that foreign exporters can’t get over, the net result is fewer choices for American consumers, higher costs, fewer choices, fewer options. And finally, I would just stress that the fact is historically trade deficits do not harm manufacturing, broadly speaking, and they don’t cause unemployment.” (C-SPAN, 3/14/17) “Pat Toomey draws applause from Koch crowd when he says GOP should not fall into ‘trap’ of revenueneutral tax reform plan.” (Rebecca Berg, Twitter Feed, 1/28/17) AMERICANS KeepAmericaAffordable.com PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX IS OPPOSED BY SENATE REPUBLICANS Senator MIKE ROUNDS (SD): “Add Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) to the list of Senate Republicans skeptical about calls to create a ‘border adjustable’ business tax. Asked today if he’s on board with the House proposal, Rounds said: ‘Not at this time, no.’ He expressed concern about its potential effects on farmers and ranchers as well as on consumers who’ve ‘benefited from inexpensive imports.’ ‘Any time we start talking about how we’re going to regulate products going out and products coming in, we better darn well know what the impact on the economy is before we start making major changes,’ Rounds said in an interview with CNBC.” (Brian Faler, “South Dakota’s Rounds Joins BAT Skeptics,” POLITICO Pro, 2/9/17) Senator PAT ROBERTS (KS): “There’s internal GOP resistance too. Senator David Perdue of Georgia said he disagrees with the border-adjusted tax plan. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas said he has concerns with it, and Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho said he’s leaning against it.” (Sahil Kapur, “Four Hurdles That Could Block Republicans’ Tax-Cut Ambitions,” Bloomberg, 2/1/17) Senator TIM SCOTT (SC): “Walking into the meeting with the Speaker, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said of the border tax proposal: It’s ‘going to be very difficult to get it through the Senate.’ ‘I think it’s tough,’ said Scott, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax issues. ‘The longer it takes to explain, the harder it is to implement.’ He added that a ‘20 percent negative impact when [products come into the country] means those who bear the burden the most are the consumers in the country.’” (Alexander Bolton, “Ryan Tries To Save Tax Plan,” The Hill, 2/14/17) AMERICANS KeepAmericaAffordable.com PROT ECTING CO NSUMERS FRO M H I GH E R PRI C E S PRODUCTS
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