Accounting
Trump’s sharp turn for US policy faces slower road in Congress
President Donald Trump is preparing to take his show on the road after a shock-and-awe flurry of executive actions that have flipped U.S. priorities on everything from climate policy to
Yet while Trump’s long-planned fire and fury start to his second term is entirely something he’s controlled, the next steps for his plans to remake Washington will need the help of others. Republicans, who narrowly control the House and Senate, have yet to find agreement on how to move Trump’s ambitious plans through Congress.
Trump’s third day in office will be capped by an Oval Office interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, set to air Wednesday night during Asia market hours. Trump is also expected to meet today with a group of centrist House Republicans, according to a Semafor
Trump met Tuesday with House and Senate Republican leaders to chart a path forward on his priorities, but those talks ended without a deal on how to advance Trump’s signature tax plan, as well as on other key policy priorities like immigration and energy.
Senate Republicans would like to do a large bill on immigration and energy first to deliver a quick win for the president and then tackle tax reform in a second bill, whereas House Republicans would prefer to do one large bill that ties together all of Trump’s priorities to help ensure passage through Congress.
Congressional Republicans have struggled with unity in recent years, especially in the House. It took 15 votes for Kevin McCarthy to become speaker in 2023, and he lasted just 10 months in the job before being ousted. GOP lawmakers eventually settled on Mike Johnson to take over, and he’s led an uneasy majority since then. Earlier this month, Johnson required Trump’s own last-minute intervention to flip a couple of votes in order to keep the top job.
Hannity, in a Tuesday evening program at the Capitol with House GOP leaders and lawmakers, repeatedly pressed them to get on board with Trump’s full agenda, urging unanimity while reminding repeatedly that no one member can get everything they want.
Johnson told Hannity Tuesday that a bill to move Trump’s tax agenda, extending cuts from his first term and enacting promises made during his campaign, could be done by April and would be passed by the Memorial Day holiday near the end of May at the latest.
“We’ve had a lot of member briefings, but we’ve also been talking about this with President Trump,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters after his meeting with the president on Tuesday.
“When you look at what gives us the best path to success, to secure the border, lower energy costs, save the tax policies, stave off the tax increase — all of those things we want to do, what builds the best path?” Scalise added.”The one area we’re not in disagreement on is what will be in an overall package. We’re all talking about the same things.”
Yet for all the optimistic talk on passing Trump’s legislative agenda, there’s no agreement yet on how to do it.
Complicating matters further, Republicans in recent years needed to rely on Democratic votes for even the most basic legislative must-dos, like funding the government or lifting the debt ceiling. House Republicans can only afford to lose one vote and still be able to pass bills without needing to go to Democrats for help. In the Senate, they can afford just three defections.
“We’re gonna get the job done, at the end of the day,” Representative Tom Emmer, the Minnesota Republican whose job as majority whip is to corral House GOP votes for the bills that will enact Trump’s agenda, told Hannity. “Failure is not an option.”
Fire funding
Meanwhile, preparations are underway for a trip to North Carolina and Los Angeles, the latter of which will give Trump a chance to spar on Democratic turf with the biggest political foil of his first days back in office, California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump is
In his inaugural address, Trump said fires have burned in Los Angeles “without even a token of defense.” Newsom shot back that Trump’s rhetoric was both “nonsense” and “insulting,” in a statement late Tuesday that interspersed those words with photos of firefighters tackling the blazes.
“I look forward to President Trump’s visit to Los Angeles and his mobilization of the full weight of the federal government to help our fellow Americans recover and rebuild.”
Newsom has also sparred with conservatives in Congress over whether federal aid to California should come without conditions — his insistence — or with conditions including requiring changes to water policy and fire mitigation strategies in the state, as Republicans including Johnson have suggested.
“We’re going to take care of Los Angeles,” Trump said to reporters on Tuesday at the White House. “I’m going to North Carolina, which has been abandoned by the Democrats. And I’m going to North Carolina, very importantly, first, I’ll be there on Friday.”
Trump will also go to Nevada, a swing-state he won in the 2024 presidential election, to “thank them” for their support.
The trip will cap off a busy week for Trump, who advisers and allies say returned to power with a strong sense of the way he wanted to approach a second term. Trump is trying to demonstrate his effectiveness as a leader and draw a contrast with the former President Joe Biden, who typically did one or two public events each day in office. Many of Trump’s aides would like his legacy to rival that of the late President Ronald Reagan.
The Trump team always intended to move at a dizzying pace during its first two years in office, while Republicans control the White House, Senate and House. They say they are emboldened and confident after winning all seven swing states in the 2024 election and expanding the Republican Party to include greater numbers of young men, Black men and Hispanics.
To reporters, Trump has said he may impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as February 1. “We’re talking about a tariff of 10% on China, based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Trump’s comments, made in White House events that turned into impromptu press conferences, scrambled currency markets. China’s onshore yuan dropped by the most in three weeks on his tariff threat reiteration. A day earlier, Trump’s 25% threat
Even if Trump’s second-term is off to an impactful start, warning signs loom for his presidency. The nation’s stubborn inflation will be hard to tame, despite his recent order to federal agencies to study the issue of bringing down costs for consumers.
Peace in the Middle East may prove fragile, despite the agreed-upon six week cease fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, while Russia continues to bombard Ukraine’s cities nightly, with little sign yet of public movement by Russia’s leadership toward the truce talks Trump says are essential.
Trump indicated he plans to speak soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and suggested Tuesday he could impose more sanctions on Russia if Putin doesn’t come to the table for talks on Ukraine.
Putin told China’s leader Xi Jinping, during their 95-minute video call Tuesday, that he was ready for dialogue with the U.S. on Ukraine, Interfax
The House unanimously passed four bipartisan bills Tuesday concerning taxes and the Internal Revenue Service that were all
- H.R. 1152, the Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois, Suzan Delbene, D-Washington, Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania and Jimmy Panetta, D-California. The bill would apply the “mailbox rule” to electronically submitted tax returns and payments to allow the IRS to record payments and documents submitted to the IRS electronically on the day the payments or documents are submitted instead of when they are received or reviewed at a later date. The AICPA believes this would offer clarity and simplification to the payment and document submission process while protecting taxpayers from undue penalties.
- H.R. 998, the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, which would require notices describing a mathematical or clerical error to be made in plain language, and require the Treasury to provide additional procedures for requesting an abatement of a math or clerical error adjustment, including by telephone or in person, among other provisions.
- H.R. 517, the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, and Judy Chu, D-California. The process of receiving tax relief from the IRS following a natural disaster typically must follow a federal disaster declaration, which can often come weeks after a state disaster declaration. The bill would provide the IRS with authority to grant tax relief once the governor of a state declares either a disaster or a state of emergency and expand the mandatory federal filing extension under Section 7508(d) of the Tax Code from 60 days to 120 days, providing taxpayers with more time to file tax returns after a disaster.
- H.R. 1491, the Disaster related Extension of Deadlines Act, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Murphy, R-North Carolina, and Jimmy Panetta, D-California, would extend the amount of time disaster victims would have to file for a tax refund or credit (i.e., the lookback period) by the amount of time afforded pursuant to a disaster relief postponement period for taxpayers affected by major disasters. This legislative solution would place taxpayers on equal footing as taxpayers not impacted by major disasters and would afford greater clarity and certainty to taxpayers and tax practitioners regarding this lookback period.
“The AICPA has long supported these proposals and will continue to work to advance comprehensive legislation that enhances IRS operations and improves the taxpayer experience,” said Melanie Lauridsen, vice president of tax policy and advocacy for the AICPA, in a statement Tuesday. “We are pleased to work closely with each of these Representatives on common-sense reforms that will benefit taxpayers, tax practitioners and tax administration and we’re encouraged by their passage in the House. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to improve the taxpayer experience.”
The bills were also included in a recent Senate
The House also passed two other tax-related bills Tuesday that weren’t endorsed in the recent AICPA letter.
- H.R. 1155, Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-New York, would require the IRS to create a process for taxpayers to request a replacement via direct deposit for a stolen paper check. If a check is determined to be stolen or lost, and not cashed, a taxpayer will receive a replacement check once the original check is cancelled, but many taxpayers are having their replacement checks stolen as well. Taxpayers who have a check stolen are then unable to request that the replacement check be sent via direct deposit. The bill would require the Treasury to establish processes and procedures under which taxpayers, who are otherwise eligible to receive an amount by paper check in replacement of a lost or stolen paper check, may elect to receive such amount by direct deposit.
- H.R. 997, National Taxpayer Advocate Enhancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, would prevent IRS interference with National Taxpayer Advocate personnel by granting the NTA responsibility for its attorneys. In advocating for taxpayer rights, the National Taxpayer Advocate often requires independent legal advice. But currently, the staff members hired by the National Taxpayer Advocate are accountable to internal IRS counsel, not the Taxpayer Advocate, creating a potential conflict of interest to the detriment of taxpayers. The bill would authorize the National Taxpayer Advocate to hire attorneys who report directly to her, helping establish independence from the IRS.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri, applauded the bipartisan House passage of the various bills, which had been unanimously passed by the committee.
“President Trump was elected on the promise of finally making the government work better for working people,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “This bipartisan legislation helps fulfill that mandate and makes improvements to tax administration that will make it easier for the American people to file their taxes. Those who are rebuilding after a natural disaster particularly need help filing taxes, which is why this set of bills lightens the load for taxpayers in communities struck by a hurricane, tornado or some other disaster. With Tax Day just a few days away, we must look for common-sense, bipartisan ways to make filing taxes less of a hassle.”
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