Congressman Thomas Massie wants spending cuts, not tax increases elsewhere, to offset income tax reductions.
Congressman Massie (R-KY) spoke to Breitbart News on President Donald Trump’s first 100 days, saying the president is off to a great start, and calling the nomination of Neil Gorsuch a defining moment for the Trump presidency.
He told Breitbart News:
I’m excited for the wins that we got already, which includes Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch being confirmed and that’s going to last for decades. Neil Gorsuch was worth the entire election, everything else is a bonus. As for other stuff he scores big points for rolling back the regulatory state. In my district two big deals are the EPA’s Waters of the US rule, and the Social Security gun grab. I’m excited about those things.
Massie explained that he loves using the Congressional Review Act to repeal regulations. He explained, “I lost track of how many we’ve done, and it was only used once successfully before Trump. and that was an OSHA rule with President George W. Bush that Bush was able to rescind a rule created during the Clinton era. I’m excited about all of those and more. but I’m particularly excited about the Social Security gun ban.”
The Kentucky congressman would love to see a comprehensive infrastructure plan. Massie said:
I would love for us to make progress on infrastructure. I am one of the most conservative members of Congress, and I serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee because I believe it’s vital to our country. it’s one of the few things our country should spend money on. I believe that there’s a constitutional and a federal nexus for it so I’d like to figure out how to address the nation’s infrastructure needs. Trump spoke to that on the campaign, and I think that a lot of Republicans and Democrats agree that we need this. So I believe that Trump can get the six votes he needs in the Senate to pass an infrastructure plan. We know he can get 218 in the House. I’m really excited he chose Elaine Chao to be Transportation Secretary.
Massie cheered Trump nominating Scott Garrett to run the Export-Import Bank. He said:
He couldn’t pick a better person than Scott Garrett to run the Export-Import Bank. Obviously I want to eliminate the Export-Import Bank, but if there’s going to be someone to run, then Scott should run it. He’s the best person he can choose. It’s not in the win column, but it’s something for Congress to do, not the president. We should elect more people in Congress to get rid of the Export-Import Bank.
Looking forward, Congressman Massie believes that tax reform can do some great work if it cuts Americans’ tax burden and does not add to the deficit. He said:
In spite of the caution, there’s a lot of opportunity in tax reform. I think what we should do instead of swallowing the entire apple whole, we should take several bites at it. I agree in large part with Stephen Moore and Larry Kudlow in their Wall Street Journal op-ed that we should take it slow and rack up some wins and realize that tax reform does not have to be revenue neutral. Revenue neutral means that someone’s taxes are going down and somebody’s taxes are going up.
“I would like us to see a real tax cut along with tax reform and we can accomplish that without increasing the deficit. We can make up the difference by cutting spending, especially in a lot of ways that works with Trump’s narrative. We spent a $100 billion in Afghanistan rebuilding their infrastructure…. I would like to see Trump bring that money back. That’s a great opportunity right there,” Massie concluded.