U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business today to discuss the Senate’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, legislation that would cut taxes for working families in Louisiana.
Cassidy specifically addressed some Republican senators’ concerns about tax reform’s impact on the federal budget deficit. Key excerpts of Cassidy’s remarks are transcribed below.
VARNEY: My understanding is, that if this package goes through roughly as-is, then everybody’s paycheck or almost everybody’s paycheck goes up in the early part of next year because federal tax rates come down. Am I right?
CASSIDY: Absolutely. If you look at the percent of the families benefiting, disproportionately they are working and middle-class families. …
CASSIDY: As regards to debt and deficit, for example, this bill was scored as if our gross domestic product would only grow by 1.9 percent over 10 years. We’ve already had two quarters of over three percent growth; [we’re] projected to have another three percent growth next quarter. If we just raise growth to 2.4 or 2.5 percent, the increased growth of our economy, with therefore more tax revenue, pays for itself. Now, that addresses the debt and deficit issue. I think as people become aware of that, more comfortable with it, their concerns will be addressed. …
VARNEY: I just can’t believe that the Republican Party, at the very last minute, would say no to a tax cut package like this. I just can’t believe some Republicans would say no.
CASSIDY: It isn’t just because it’s the Republican Party and it’s a tax cut. It’s because middle-income families do better. It’s because we set the stage for more economic growth. That is the Republican message. Let’s have a more prosperous economy, and a more prosperous economy benefits all.