Investors should bet on tax reform happening in 2017, according to House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows.
Meadows was speaking alongside other members of the House Freedom Caucus at a Politico Playbook interview Thursday when he made the comment. The North Carolina congressman added that he thinks tax reform can happen before August, but only if “we do it differently than healthcare.”
Michigan Rep. Justin Amash and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan appeared alongside Meadows at the event weeks after the House Freedom Caucus agreed not to support the White-House backed Obamacare replacement bill. The president has since lashed out at the group of Republican conservatives, and called for their defeat in 2018.
The three freedom caucus members said during the interview that they were upset about the process behind the healthcare legislation. Meadows said that “it’s a problem” if they read about it first in the media. The White House has continued to negotiate with congressmen regarding healthcare. “If those offers that were made over the past few days appear in the legislation, the majority if not all of the Freedom Caucus will vote for the bill,” Meadows said.
The North Carolina congressman would not get into too many details about these offers but mentioned that they include keeping protections for people with preexisting conditions, and a waiver for essential health benefits.
A potential government shutdown is looming in the upcoming weeks, and Ohio Rep. Jordan seemed to suggest that he is ready to hold out for a shutdown. He said that the Freedom Caucus needs to fight for the things they told Americans they would accomplish and pointed to increasing border security and defunding planned parenthood as examples.