NBC host Savannah Guthrie asked House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) if he was living in a "fantasy world" during an interview Wednesday morning about Republican efforts to overhaul the tax system.
Republicans look set to pass a sweeping tax reform package on Wednesday and get it to President Donald Trump's desk for signature. Guthrie drilled down on criticisms that the bill favors corporations and the notion that big businesses will reinvest money from tax breaks into their own workers.
After Ryan said the bill would bolster wages and economic growth, Guthrie pointed out the largest tax cut in the bill is for corporations. The rate goes from 35 percent to 21 percent.
She quoted former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, a left-leaning independent, who wrote an op-ed saying it was "pure fantasy" to think the GOP tax plan would create growth and higher wages.
"I'll ask you plainly. Are you living in a fantasy world?" Guthrie asked.
Ryan said surveys showed the majority of businesses would reinvest in their workers and factories and raise wages.
"Workers benefit from this through higher wages. It's not a question of if, it's a question of how much they benefit," Ryan said.
Pressed on why corporations aren't raising wages and making more capital investments already, Ryan said a lot of their money was "trapped overseas."
"About $3 trillion of that cash is trapped overseas and cannot come back into our economy to be reinvested because of our tax laws," Ryan said. "You remove these barriers to investment in our economy. You give businesses an incentive to invest in America, in their factories, and that's exactly what we do."