Obamacare repeal and replace legislation may have failed, but there is still a pathway for Congress to get tax reform legislation on President Donald Trump's desk, Rep. Peter Roskam said Thursday.
"It would be preferable to have healthcare done," the Illinois Republican, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "Momentum begets momentum. That's an easier and better pathway . . . it becomes a lot of pressure on a lot of Republican members of Congress to get to yes on something like tax reform in order to go back and say we got this done. "
But "rather than moaning and groaning about it," Roskam said, "it's better to deal with the problem and move forward."
When asked if the legislation would consist of reform or cuts, Roskam said he prefers to recognize that Congress has a "once in a generation opportunity" to do fundamental reform.
"The last time tax reform happened was 30 years ago," he said. "You think about all the things that have changed in our economy. The entire Internet has developed as a commercial enterprise since then. The shared economy, Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, the global nature of supply chains are related."
However, the nation's tax code is still a "throwback," that nobody defends, said Roskam.
"[We have] an opportunity to do something that is really transformational," the congressman said. "Let's take advantage of that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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