President Donald Trump on Tuesday made a plea to Democrats to support House Republicans' tax bill by telling them he'd be a "big loser" if the bill got passed, The Washington Post reported.
"The deal is so bad for rich people, I had to throw in the estate tax just to give them something," Trump apparently told a group of 10 moderate Democratic senators, Sherrod Brown, Ron Wyden and Joe Manchin among them, The Post reported, adding that he had checked with his accountant about how the tax bill would impact him.
That assessment is at odds with nearly every other analysis of the tax legislation by independent tax experts.
Analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation found that the bulk of the cuts would benefit corporations and the super-wealthy.
Further, the conservative advocacy group Club for Growth on Tuesday said the bill failed the pro-growth test.
However, it's still early to make change, and Senate Republicans are expected to unveil their tax proposal Friday.
"This effort to just jam it through, straight Republican votes on an accelerated scheduled will lead to failure. But in that failure, lies opportunity and then we'll have a chance to do it right," The Post quoted Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., one of the Democrats who attended the meeting.