Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham conceded Thursday that the GOP will lose the financial support of its donors should Congress fail to pass a comprehensive tax reform bill, according to The New York Times’ Alan Rappeport.
Lindsey Graham says “the financial contributions will stop” if tax reform fails.
— Alan Rappeport (@arappeport) November 9, 2017
Graham’s admission is in keeping with statements made by a number of Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Chris Collins of New York, who told reporters Tuesday that “My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.'”
Graham’s comment comes as Republican unity on tax reform has been imperiled as a result of senate Republicans’ meddling with key details of the tax bill draft released by the House on Nov. 2.
One source of tension dividing the two chambers is a measure that would limit corporate tax avoidance. Republicans in the upper chamber plan to dramatically scale back the measure, reducing the revenue the government stood to recoup in lost tax dollars by roughly 95 percent.
The Senate draft, set to be released Thursday, also eliminates the full estate tax repeal included in the House draft and keeps the state and local tax deduction, which has been a longstanding point of contention among Republicans from high tax states.
Graham, who receives his most substantial contributions from corporations like General Electric, Lockheed Martin and Morgan Stanley, seems aware that the party must deliver on tax reform after months of legislative stagnation.
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