"Today" show host Savannah Guthrie wanted to know Wednesday morning, as the Republican tax bill neared the finish line, if Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was "living in a fantasy world."
Ryan was making the rounds on news shows Wednesday morning, responding to questions about the Republican’s new tax bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Savannah Guthrie asked him point blank if he was “living in a fantasy world.”
Guthrie asked the question after referencing a Michael Bloomberg op-ed, in which Bloomberg claimed that it is “pure fantasy” to think the tax bill will “lead to significantly higher wages and growth.”
“I’ll ask you plainly: are you living in a fantasy world?” she said.
Ryan rejected Bloomberg’s idea and Guthrie’s question.
"Surveys would show the vast majority of businesses are going to do just what we say, reinvest in their workers, reinvest in their factories, pay people more money, higher wages," he said, mentioning a National Association of Business Manufacturers survey.
In case you missed it, the Senate passed the final version of the tax bill early Wednesday morning. It overhauls the tax code and cuts corporate tax rates, but Democrats and critics say the plan will primarily benefit the wealthy and corporations.
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The House will vote on the bill for a second time on Wednesday, after the Senate ruled that two provisions in the bill did not comply with budget rules. President Donald Trump was optimistic in the early morning that he would have an afternoon press conference today.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has worked years toward the goal of revamping the tax code, gleefully pounded the gavel on the House vote. GOP House members roared and applauded as they passed the $1.5 trillion package that will touch every American taxpayer and every corner of the U.S. economy, providing steep tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy, and more modest help for middle- and low-income families.
"This was a promise made. This is a promise kept," Ryan said at a victory news conference.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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