Tax overhaul becomes GOP’s priority as health-care bill stalls

Washington: President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan say they’re ready to put a tax overhaul at the top of their agendas.

After the lack of sufficient support among House Republicans forced them to cancel a scheduled House vote on a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, both men highlighted the need to focus now on rewriting the US tax code.

“So now we’re going to go for tax reform, which I’ve always liked,” Trump said on Friday following the decision to cancel the vote. Health care represented the first big test of Trump’s ability to steer ambitious proposals through Congress. During a rally earlier this week, he repeated a theme from recent speeches, calling for “massive tax reform.”

During a press conference Friday, Ryan acknowledged that failing to repeal and replace Obamacare would make a tax overhaul more difficult, but not impossible, because his members have more consensus on taxes. He said he met with the president, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, on Friday to discuss a tax overhaul.

“Now we’re going to move on with the rest of our agenda because we have big, ambitious plans to improve people’s lives in this country,” Ryan said.