published Oct 24, 2017 2:49:14 PM, by Laura Litvan
(Bloomberg) —

President Donald Trump encouraged GOP senators to push ahead with their tax-cut plans Tuesday, hours after feuding publicly with fellow Republican Bob Corker.

On the same day, Arizona Republican Jeff Flake announced on the Senate floor he’s not seeking re-election and excoriated Trump without mentioning the president by name, accusing the president of “reckless, outrageous and undignified” behavior that is “dangerous to a democracy.”

Amid the discord, Republicans sought to put a positive spin on a meeting with the president at the Capitol that focused on taxes.

“I would say the attitude was very positive. And we had meatloaf,” Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said after the lunch meeting. “He spent most of his time talking about the importance of tax reform.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky tried to keep the focus on the GOP’s tax-cut goals, dismissing reporters’ questions on Trump’s bickering with Republicans including Corker.

“Tax reform is what we are about,” the majority leader said. “We’ve been looking for the opportunity to do this literally for years.”

Trump’s meeting with senators came just hours after he and Corker escalated their increasingly personal feud, with the president calling the senator “incompetent” and Corker accusing Trump of “debasing” the nation and “constant non-truth-telling.”

Asked later if Trump won him over at lunch, Corker said “no.” Other senators said the spat didn’t come up.

‘Step Aside’

Tuesday’s angry back-and-forth started when Corker said on NBC the White House should stay out of the tax-code overhaul altogether, citing recent interventions by Trump that harmed the negotiations.

“Hopefully the White House will step aside and let that occur in a normal process,” said the senator, who says he won’t support a tax plan that boosts the U.S. deficit.

House and Senate Republicans who are crafting the tax-cut plan have complained that the president isn’t clear about what he wants in it.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, whose panel is writing the tax legislation, said Monday that he wasn’t certain of Trump’s position — hours after the president used Twitter to shoot down a Republican idea to reduce the annual limit on 401(k) retirement account contributions.

“We need to know what the president wants to do to try to coordinate it with him,” Hatch said. “So far I’m not quite sure where he’s going.”

‘We Don’t Know’

Even some of Trump’s closest supporters in Congress have expressed frustration.

Representative Chris Collins, a New York Republican who was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump for president, complained early Tuesday about the lack of direction from the White House. “We don’t know, we don’t know, we don’t know,” he said, on key questions including how many individual tax brackets will be in a final plan.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Trump and Republicans are lying about proposed tax cuts helping the middle class.

“It’s untruth after untruth after untruth as Bob Corker put it,” Schumer told reporters. Regarding Trump, the senator said, “The reason that he’s not getting anything done here is because he spends almost all of his time attacking people and almost none of his time solving problems.”

Trump’s angry exchange with Corker threatens to alienate a senator who could be critical to the tax debate.

After Corker’s statements, Trump responded on Twitter with a series of diatribes. “Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts,” the president said. He alleged that Corker, who isn’t seeking re-election, “dropped out of the race in Tennessee when I refused to endorse him” and said he “is only negative on anything Trump.”

‘Debasement’ of Nation

Corker later told CNN that Trump’s legacy is the “debasement of our nation.” He said he wouldn’t support the president again after endorsing him in 2016 because “he’s obviously not going to rise to the occasion as president.”

Later in the day, Flake said on the Senate floor that his decision not to seek re-election will free him to “not be complicit or silent” regarding the president’s behavior.

“We must stop pretending that the degradation of politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal,” Flake said on the Senate floor. “They are not normal.”

He also said “reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior” when it “emanates from the top of our government” is “dangerous to a democracy.”

Trump previously tweeted that Flake is “toxic.”

Republicans are under pressure to deliver tax cuts after they’ve failed at other efforts to pass big-ticket legislation, most notably a replacement of Obamacare. The tax effort took a major step forward late last week, when the Senate narrowly approved a budget that would allow a future tax-cut plan to pass the Senate with just 51 votes. The House plans to follow suit on Thursday.
Last month, Trump and Republican congressional leaders released a framework for tax legislation that would cut tax rates for individuals and businesses. The corporate tax rate would drop to 20 percent from 35 percent, while the seven individual tax rates would be condensed to three or four.

Republicans have vacillated on whether to end or limit the deduction for state and local tax payments and whether to add a higher tax bracket for top earners. Administration officials have made conflicting statements about whether the plan would increase or lower the federal deficit.

On Monday, Trump said in a Twitter message that the plan won’t change tax-deferred retirement savings plans. The New York Times reported on Friday that Republicans were considering reducing the limit on the annual amount workers can set aside in 401(k) accounts.

“There will be NO change to your 401(k),” Trump said on Twitter. “This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!”

Still, members of Congress including Hatch and GOP Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said potential changes remain on the table

-With assistance from Toluse Olorunnipa and Jack Fitzpatrick.To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net Justin Blum, Laurie Asséo