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Sherrod Brown Indicates Potential Support for Trump's Tax Reform Plan

October 18, 2017

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) suggested Wednesday that he and other Democrats would support President Donald Trump's tax reform plan if it gives tax relief to working families and incentivizes corporations to pay decent wages and produce goods in the United States.

Brown said on "Fox & Friends" that his goals for tax reform legislation appear to align with Trump's recent statements on how he wants to change the U.S. tax code.

"The president wants to do two things: he wants to give significant tax relief to working families, and he wants to make sure that corporations are patriotic, that corporations actually pay decent wages and keep their jobs in this country," Brown said.

Brown noted that he is pushing legislation that would give companies a lower tax rate if they pay good wages and keep production in the U.S.

He then described several initiatives that he supports—"the working families tax credit, the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit"—noting that the president's daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, also backs such measures.

Fox News host Steve Doocy then asked Brown whether he would vote for "the president's and ultimately the Senate's tax reform plan" if the legislation included components of the two issues he had mentioned.

"Well, I want to see it," Brown said. "Those are the two major things that would get, I think, a bunch of Democrats to vote yes."

He added that tax reform legislation needs to be done on a bipartisan basis and out in the open.

Brown and Republican Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio), both members of the Senate Finance Committee, are scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Wednesday to discuss tax reform.