At a Heritage Foundation event on December 1, 2016, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said while budget reconciliation may ultimately may be the only option for advancing tax reform, House Republicans are going start differently — by inviting Democrats in the House to bring forward their ideas for tax reform. "Our Democratic members of Congress … their communities are suffering too," he said.

Brady said while a lot of people are brainstorming the process for tax reform — the sequencing and timing — Ways and Means is focused on the product. He said the Committee will continue to receive feedback on the Blueprint through the end of the year in anticipation of introducing the proposal early in 2017, though it remains to be seen where the issue fits in the "first 100 days" agenda of the incoming Administration. "The Trump team — it's just been a few weeks," Brady said, adding that House members are engaged with the team now and will continue to be. Whenever the timeline is set, they will be ready with pro-growth tax reform, he said.

Brady continued to outline the benefits of the Blueprint on tax reform, including adopting border adjustability to reverse the fact that "Made in America" products are disadvantaged here and abroad. He repeated that the advantages of the proposal, under which "Made in America" products will no longer be taxed and imports will not be subsidized, include:

1. leveling the playing field for American made products, so that competition is not based on the tax code
2. dramatically simplifying the international tax code
3. ensuring every incentive to move jobs and headquarters overseas is eliminated combined with lower rates and a territorial system

He repeated that the Blueprint is designed to break even with the budget, with consideration of economic growth. Some deductions will be eliminated, including, for business, no longer allowing deductibility of net interest, and there are good policy reasons for that change, Brady said. Allowing both full expensing and deductibility of net interest expense could result in a negative tax rate. More broadly, he encouraged stakeholders not to focus on a single feature of the Blueprint like interest deductibility, but to look at the proposal as a whole.

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