Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was more forceful than President Donald Trump in saying that the goal to pass tax reform remains "by the end of the year."
The president and McConnell met with reporters in the Rose Garden after a lunch at the White House to talk about a number of key issues, one of them being tax reform.
"Well, I would like to see it be done this year," Trump told reporters. "So we won't go a step further. If we get it done, it is a great achievement. … I really believe that we have a good chance and getting the taxes done, hopefully fairly long before the end of the year, that's what we would like to see."
"Let me add what the president says — the goal is to get it done this calendar year," McConnell said. "We are going get this job done and the goal is to get it done by the end of the year."
However, late last week Sen. Ted Cruz said it could be early 2018 before tax reform gets done.
Both Trump and McConnell said it's about tax reduction as well as reform.
"We are doing massive tax cuts and we're also doing simplification and reform," Trump said.
"I agree with the president and it's about both reduction and reform," McConnell said. "It's been 30 years since this kind of effort was undertaken successfully and we'll succeed this time.
"But it's about both, about both reform and reduction," McConnell said.
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