Free-market advocates assemble coalition, at Trump’s request, to push tax cuts

EXCLUSIVE: Free-market economics big wigs, acting on a request from President Trump, have assembled a coalition that aims to be the premier voice in the push to make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent — and to do it as quickly as possible.

Economists Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer — key figures in crafting the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — along with publisher Steve Forbes are spearheading the Tax Cut Victory Alliance, a coalition of taxpayer groups, business groups, state organizations and activists that is urging Congress to permanently extend the cuts in Trump’s first 100 days.

Public announcement of the group comes as financial markets took a tumble over the past few days in reaction to Trump’s promises to implement tariffs.

But the coalition is an example of how free-marketers, even if they cringe at the tariffs, are largely putting those concerns aside as they boost Trump in hopes of quickly securing other tax and economic wins.

“We keep stressing that, because of the recent weakness in the economy and the jitteriness of the stock market, that the sooner that this can get done, the better,” Moore told me in an interview.

TO BE SURE, there are other organizations on the political right pushing for the tax cuts. I wrote last week about Americans for Prosperity’s Capitol Hill push, for instance.

But the major names and groups in the Tax Cut Victory Alliance, already integrated with the White House and congressional leaders, could have the firepower to help keep momentum and get the cuts done sooner rather than later.

“Laffer and Forbes are the two co-chairmen of this effort, and they are probably the two most influential voices on tax policy on the Republican side in the country. So what they say matters,” Moore said. “That's why we'll be the premier voice and activist group in getting this bill through. That’s why Trump asked us to do it.”

The coalition was put together a few weeks ago, Moore said, after he was at the White House with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trump asked for help in pushing the tax cuts through.

Moore, Laffer and Forbes along with commentator and Trump’s former National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow previously co-founded the advocacy group Unleash Prosperity. Other organizations in the new coalition include the American Legislative Exchange Council, the National Association of Manufacturers, Job Creators Network, and Tea Party Patriots.

The partners are meeting weekly either in person or via phone with Republican leaders in the House and Senate, as well as allies in the Treasury Department, to go week by week and align top priorities and strategies, Moore said.

It will also mount a seven-figure advocacy campaign, including video ads in target markets; hold grassroots advocacy events; develop economic studies and analysis “leveraging dynamic scoring”; spread their message on social media; and seek earned media.

Here are the coalition’s stated goals:

• Make the 2017 tax cuts permanent within 100 days of the new Administration

• Protect all of the 2017 reductions in tax rates on individuals, families, small businesses, and employers

• Ensure business tax rates remain low and potentially lowering them further to 15 percent

• Secure capital expensing provisions to encourage greater business investment growth

• Promote the true economic impact of the tax cuts rather than using failed Congressional Budget Office scoring projections

Their biggest fear is that Congress waits until close to the tax cut expiration date at the end of the calendar year to pass an extension, with Moore recalling that the original bill was passed in late December 2017.

“People don’t realize how close we came to not getting it done. If we hadn't got it done before Christmas, it wouldn't have happened. So, that was perilous,” Moore said.

“Memorial Day is our real target date for getting this done,” Moore added. “We really believe that if they can do that, then we can see in the second half of the year a big economic boom.”

That is in line with House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who have long pushed the Trump-endorsed reconciliation strategy packaging together tax cuts, border funding, energy policy changes, and other priorities in “one big, beautiful bill.”

The razor-thin House GOP majority advanced a framework for that ambitious legislative agenda last week in a major victory.

But now the tough part is working out the details with the Senate GOP leaders, who have expressed a preference for a two-bill strategy that would leave tax cuts for later in the year.

Time for the coalition to get to work. “We're just starting to kind of count heads there and see where we're at, where the senators are, what their concerns are,” Moore said.

I’m Emily Brooks, House reporter at The Hill, here with a weekly look at the wider right-wing ecosystem, influences and debates in Washington, D.C. Let me know what’s going on: ebrooks@thehill.com

CENSURE SCRAMBLE: House Republicans are unified in wanting to formally reprimand Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) for his extended heckling of Trump during Tuesday’s address to Congress.

But there was a behind-the-scenes scramble over who gets to put their name on the ultimate resolution to reprimand him — and get the political boost that comes with it.

Before Trump’s speech even started, the House Freedom Caucus board released a statement forecasting its intention to censure any Democrat who disrupted the address.

The morning after that happened, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) — who left the Freedom Caucus last year after the group booted Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) — started circulating at 9 a.m. a resolution to censure Greeen, getting support from nearly 30 co-sponsors, including a number of fellow Texans.

Twenty-five minutes later, before Nehls’s effort was public, the House Freedom Caucus posted on the social platform X that it would introduce a censure against Green, an effort that would be led by Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.).

But it was Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) who got the first, winning censure resolution backed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who told a NOTUS reporter that Newhouse’s resolution “is the first one outta the gate.”

Some saw the move as being aimed at improving his relationship with Trump and his allies, given he is one of two House Republicans remaining in Congress who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Newhouse defeated a Trump-endorsed challenger last year, and one senior GOP aide said it was an “obvious attempt to shield him from a primary.”

Newhouse dismissed that notion.

“I don’t see how that would work at all,” he said. “This is about the House of Representatives, Congress and respecting the rules of decorum that we have.”

Nehls and Crane are going ahead with introducing their resolutions anyway.

“I'm not super worried about it,” Crane said. “I mean, the only thing that's really important is order kind of gets restored to the House.”

The House will vote on the censure resolution Thursday, after defeating a Democratic motion to table the matter the prior night.

MORE HERE: House tees up final vote to censure Al Green for protest at Trump speech

THREE MORE THINGS …

HARD-LINE CONSERVATIVE SHIFT ON STOPGAPS: My colleague Mychael Schnell and I reported that hard-line House conservatives are signaling an openness to supporting a continuing resolution to keep the government open later this month — a notable shift from their usual stance against stopgaps that is changing the playing field for GOP leaders as they look to keep the lights on in Washington. Read here…
EPSTEIN DEBACLE: My colleague Brett Samuels unpacks the MAGA World uproar over the Epstein files. Read here…
TIDES TURN AGAINST TATES: Are any major figures on the right publicly defending Andrew and Tristan Tate anymore? The Florida attorney general is investigating them, and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) is in support of that: “If the attorney general finds cause under Florida law to investigate that, then I wish him the best, and I support whatever he’s going to do on that matter,” he told CBS.

Topics

President Trump should combine extending tax cuts with fixing Social Security

It would be good fiscal policy and probably good politics
MarketWatch - Feb. 23
Why the Fed’s inflation fight could be a victim of Trump’s tariffs and tax cuts

Trump is moving fast and breaking things. That’s creating more chaos than progress.
MarketWatch - 1d
Trump's lies on tax cuts are another gut punch to America's working-class

He and congressional Republicans are getting ready to sell out Americans and our future so he can deliver massive tax cuts to billionaires like Elon Musk.
The Hill - 21h
White House pushes back on criticism of Trump spending cuts

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday said Americans support the massive job and spending cuts President Trump has enacted across the federal government since returning to the Oval ...
CBS News - Feb. 21
Trump administration pushes on with government cuts amid some signs of pushback

NBC News White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor and NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Melanie Zanona report on new firings in the federal government as some House Republicans are confronted ...
NBC News - Feb. 21
Trump’s Cuts to Federal Work Force Push Out Young Employees

The loss of early career workers has raised concerns about the impact on the next generation of civil servants.
The New York Times - 5h
Watch: Trump speaks on Ukraine to coalition of governors

President Trump gave remarks Friday morning from the White House to the National Governors Association, as scrutiny mounts over his Ukraine rhetoric. His comments follow an address before the ...
The Hill - Feb. 21
Businesses Are Betting on a Tax Cut Extension

The federal budget debate has big implications for the economy. Despite questions about the math, investors expect an extension of the 2017 tax cuts.
The New York Times - Feb. 22
Slashing Medicaid to Pay for Trump’s Tax Cuts Could Lead to Vast State Shortfalls

Republicans have proposed lowering the federal share of costs for Medicaid expansions, which could reshape the program by gutting one of the Affordable Care Act’s major provisions.
The New York Times - Feb. 26