Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said Friday that Republicans’ major tax and domestic policy bill could be on President Donald Trump’s desk as late as August because “good policy is good politics.”
“Good policy is good politics, and, so, if we get something that delivers on President Trump’s promise to make our economy…fairer to the American people, the politics will take care of itself,” Cassidy said during an appearance on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria Bartiromo.
“I can imagine it’ll be by August 1, but as long as it’s this year, I am okay with it.”
Republican lawmakers have pushed to have a House bill by Memorial Day and a signature by the president no later than July 4, but Cassidy feels that timelines should come second to policy, he said.
“We just have to worry about making this economy a better economy for average and working Americans,” he said. “The last four years punished them.”
“I don’t care if it’s two weeks this way, two weeks that way. The goal is to make this economy a better economy for our fellow Americans.”
Margins for passing the “Big, Beautiful Bill” are slim for Republicans as neither chamber can afford to lose more than three GOP lawmakers to move the bill forward, but the votes will come if the bill is good policy, according to Cassidy.
“Let’s make an economy which is fairer for the American people in which we see ‘Made in America’ more often in the United States but we also see ‘Made in America’ products more often in other countries,” he said.
“Then I think that’ll eventually happen. I can’t tell you the exact timeline, but that’s the goal.”
Extending the Trump tax cuts and advancing the president’s agenda will require cuts, and finding those cuts take time, Cassidy said.
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“One of the things you do in these committee hearings, you say, ‘Wait a second, is this fat, let’s just get rid of the fat, but is this good?’ This is this kind of, if you will, marrow and bone and muscle, we want to preserve that,” he said.
“That’s the process you go through. If it takes a little bit longer, that’s the reason it’s taking a little bit longer. If we’re creating an economy which works better for the American people, that’s President Trump’s promise, then that’s the process you have to go through.”