something. but it turned out he never ordered fema to do anything of the sort. last fall trump boasted confidently about a new tax cut that he and republicans in congress had come up with. they were putting the finishing touches on it. it would be unveiled right before the election. no one in congress had any idea what the president was talking about and even white house officials quietly admitted they were mystified. when asked about the tax cut trump s own treasury secretary said this, i quote, i m not going to comment on whether it is a real thing or not a real thing. trump talked about it at his rallies. it was a major applause line, but as you may have noticed, there was no new tax cut plan. there never had been. the president likes to say that his border wall is being built, has been built, is nearly finished, is finished. one time they even put up a plaque on some replacement fencing that had been ordered by the obama administration and they just
rallies. it was a major applause line, but as you may have noticed, there was no new tax cut plan. there never had been. the president likes to say that his border wall is being built, has been built, is nearly finished, is finished. one time they even put up a flak on some replacement fencing that had been ordered by the obama administration and they just called it trump s wall. it s created the strange, uncomfortable dynamic in which everyone, the press, foreign governments, they have to be gauging what relationship if any trump s pronouncements have to reality. last year after trump announced he was calling off negotiations over the dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought here as children, the new york times noted in passing, quote, it was unclear whether the president s tweets represented any change in his immigration policy or were just the sort of venting he is known to do after reading a newspaper article or seeing a television program.
tax code that occurred when this was immeanted meant some corporations underwithheld the amount of tax a typical employee would pay, and so that s why you might be seeing a smaller refund. in the case of some independent contractors, you might have paid estimated taxes that were too small because of some big changes that occurred to the tax code for individuals. so, corporations have gotten the benefit and individuals are effectively footing the bill. so wait a second, when the president touts his tax cut plan as being an improvement and a benefit for working families, is that not so? well, in a lot of states, it s not so. if you look at the reductions in the deduction that you get for state and local income taxes, s.a.l.t., as it s called, you can only deduct $10,000 in total, including state, local income taxes, property taxes, and you ve also seen some changes for limited liability companies who may not have the same deductions as they have in the past if they re not in manufact
i.c.e. detention beds. that s as big of a sticking point for a lot of republicans as funding for the wall. if the democrats were to succeed and i don t think they will in getting a lower number of beds at a time there is a larger influx of people that will be a nonstarter. my view is there flexibility on both sides? absolutely. am i going to be flexible? sure i will. i want to come up with an agreement. obviously i would like it to look as much as i want it to be but i m a conservative republican. i realize everyone in the room is not. everyone in the country is not. so let s come together with a comprehensive agreement, the vast majority of people can get behind. music to the ears of a lot of americans watching now. i want to ask about the republican tax cut which we are about a year into the gop tax cut plan. there have been a lot of studies that show promises made at the time of the passage and i know you voted for it, just haven t borne out. first full year under the tax law.
international side. what would you hear, see or both that you would come away and say this was a good night for the president and the opposite? what has been a bad night for the president? i think a good night for the president is he will want to also take a moment because of all of the coverage of sort of the ups and downs in the white house to pull back and say what have we accomplished. i think there is a lot of economic point that i hope he devotes significant amount of time to talk about what has been accomplished with the tax cut plan and regulatory reform. as far as a bad night, i think a bad night would come across as so many divisions we have in congress. i m not expecting it. i think it will be a good night for the president. he is constantly a glass half full kind of guy. we ll see if he remains full this evening. the top commander for u.s. forces in the middle east telling congress just this morning that he was not