Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Wednesday that his colleagues in the Senate would be "happy to work with" Republicans, including President Donald Trump, on "genuine tax reform."
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Jim Vandehei asked the senator if there's pressure on Democrats to deny Trump "a win" on tax reform.
"No," Van Hollen said, "we just actually sent a letter to [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell, we meaning the Democrats in the Senate, saying we were happy to work with them on genuine tax reform. We're not interested in providing another round of windfall tax breaks to very, very wealthy people. We don't think that's the priority in the country."
Trump himself told The Wall Street Journal last Friday, although the full text of the interview that included this question was released by Politico later, that he had no plan to increase taxes on the rich, though he has implied in the past that he supports the idea.
He added that he wants to follow the advice of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
"Lets work through the regular order, lets have hearings when it comes to tax reform, and we also are very concerned that they're going to blow a hole in the deficit and debt by providing big tax breaks," Van Hollen said.
He then warned against passing tax breaks similar to those passed under President George W. Bush, saying, "we're not interested in an exercise that's just a back door effort to provide tax breaks to very wealthy people. Kind of like the health care bill, which cut health care benefits to tens of millions of Americans in order to provide big tax breaks to very wealthy folks."