April 18, 2017 “Our tax reform and our tax plan is coming along very well. It will out very soon. We are working on Health Care. We are getting that done, too,” reported President Trump at the Snap-On Tools factory in Wisconsin. (about 3:30 into the video).
President Trump often tells us that something great is going to happen soon. What does he mean by soon?
It has been reported that Trump had planned to get the Tax Reform through Congress and 
on his desk to sign in August. That timetable seemed to disintegrated when the Republicans couldn’t repeal the Affordable Care Act. They need the money they save from not funding the health benefits of the needy to give tax breaks for wealthy.
Trump realizes that he has to repeal the ACA, so they are going to try to pass another version of the American Health Care Act–and he wants to go it quickly–so he can then work on Tax Reform. Near the end of the Snap-On Speech our President returned to the Tax Reform and Health spiel.
We are also working with Congress on Tax Reform and simplification. We are on time if we can get that Health Care approval, so press everyone of your congressman, press everyone to get that approval. It just makes the tax reform easier and it makes it better, it makes it steeper, it’s going make it bigger, and that’s what we want to do. So we are on very good shape on Tax Reform, we have the concept of the plan. We are going to announce it really soon, but Health Care, we’ll have to get the Health Care done quickly.
Two days later, at a news conference with the Prime Minister of Italy, our President brought up Health Care again:
April 20, 2017–“We are doing very well on Health Care. This is a great bill, it is a great plan and it is great health care. It’s evolving. The plan gets better, and better and better and it is gotten really, really good. A lot of people are liking it a lot. We have a good chance of getting it soon. I would like to think next week.”
I would feel a bit better about the new proposal if the President had given us some facts about it, instead of telling us that it is “really, really good. Reports are it just an outline. Chuck Todd of the MSNBC program MTP Daily on Thursday (April 20) told the audience that the new proposal was framed to entice radical conservative Freedom Caucus to support it. That would mean more moderate Republicans (the Tuesday Group) will probably oppose it. Then of course it needs to go the Senate process for approval. The new Health Care proposal would have a very little chance of becoming law.
On-line articles about the new proposal have headline like these:
Trump is trying to repeal Obamacare again, but he still doesn’t have the votes
White House pressures GOP leaders on Obamacare showdown next week
The Growing Gap Between the House and the White House on Health Care
(You can follow the links for more details.)
President Trump needs to have a repealed ACA in order to have a Tax Reform Plan. That will not be easy. We’ll see if it happens “soon”.
New NY 23rd 
If the GOP does rush a half-baked health plan through the House, would they then count on the “savings” when they address so-called tax reform.
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Trump wants a “win”. I wonder when they will announce the details of their “really, really good” plan. Will it pass the House just because Trump, with his 40% approval rating, wants it? And don’t forget that the budget needs to be negotiated by Friday–or they could pass a short-tern extension–to avoid a shutdown.
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Will legislators have time to “read the bill” before voting?
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