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In Signing Sweeping Tax Bill, Trump Questions Whether He Is Getting Enough Credit
transcript
Trump Watches News. Rushes to Sign Tax Bill.
President Trump pushed aside a formal signing in January to sign the tax legislation because television news networks questioned whether he would keep his promise to sign the legislation before Christmas.
When I watch the news, as you know, we had the largest tax cuts in our history just approved. And I was going to wait for a formal signing sometime in early January. But then I watched the news this morning and they were all saying, “Will he keep his promise? Will he sign it by Christmas?” You were one. But, “Will he sign it by Christmas?” So I’ll sign this today rather than having a very big formal ceremony in two weeks when we were going to do it, because I didn’t want you folks to say that I wasn’t keeping my promise. I am keeping my promise. I am signing it before Christmas. I said that the bill would be on my desk before Christmas. And you are holding me literally to that. So we did a rush job today. It’s not fancy, but it’s the Oval Office.
Eileen Sullivan and
WASHINGTON — President Trump signed the most consequential tax legislation in three decades on Friday, even as he complained that he has not been given credit for his administration’s accomplishments during a turbulent first year.
Mr. Trump decided against doing a formal signing ceremony early next year because television news networks questioned whether he would keep his promise to sign the legislation before Christmas.
Mr. Trump said he saw the coverage Friday morning and hastily called his staff to say that the legislation needed to be signed “now,” prompting a last-minute Oval Office ceremony for the president’s greatest achievement in his first year in office.
“We did a rush job today,” Mr. Trump said at the bill signing. “It’s not fancy, but it’s the Oval Office. It’s the great Oval Office.”
It marked another improvisational moment in a presidency already known for abandoning the norms of the office.
The bill was the most significant legislative victory for Mr. Trump, who has struggled during his first year in office to pass major bills that would deliver on campaign promises, even with Republicans having the majority in both chambers of Congress. Republicans promise the new tax law will benefit the middle class, but Democrats have warned that the law could be harmful to many lower-income taxpayers and to the nation’s fiscal health.
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