On October 11, 2017, President Trump continued to tout the benefits of the Republican tax reform plan for individuals and to make the case that corporate tax changes will provide benefits to US workers, including saying that imposing "a one-time low tax" on accumulated foreign earnings of US companies could give typical US households a $4,000 pay raise.

The President cited Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett's point from an October 5 speech that if US firms had not kept 71% of foreign-earned profits abroad in 2016, workers would have received a raise of nearly 1%. "What if these firms didn't do that for the next 8 years? The median U.S. household would get a $4,000 real income raise," Hassett said.

In a speech at the Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania to an audience filled with truckers, President Trump called for cutting taxes for businesses to provide them a level playing field and to restore their competitive edge, which he said will result in more jobs and higher wages for Americans. He said the biggest winners from the corporate tax rate reduction will be average Americans.

The President said the focus of the tax bill will be the middle class and cited audience members who would benefit under proposals included in the tax reform framework released on September 27. He called Democrats obstructionists and said they want to raise taxes substantially. The speech follows three others in states — Missouri, North Dakota, and Indiana — President Trump won in 2016 and that have a Democratic senator up for re-election in 2018, in this case Senator Bob Casey (D-PA).

Ahead of President Trump's speech, on Bloomberg TV this morning, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said the Committee will be proposing a "two-tiered tax process for the existing $2.5 trillion that's stranded overseas." In terms of process, Brady said the Committee is going to bring forward a comprehensive tax reform bill with income brackets and details after the budget is delivered. "It all pivots off the budget. Once that is signed, sealed, and delivered, then Ways and Means will have the baseline, the number to write to, we are going to move very quickly after that … " he said. "If you're serious about tax reform, whether you are in the House or the Senate, you have to be serious about giving us the right budget."

During an event sponsored by The Hill newspaper, asked when a tax bill would be released, Ways and Means Tax Policy Subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL) said "very soon." Asked about Senator Bob Corker's (R-TN) comments that the plan Republican leaders want will cost $4 trillion, Roskam said the impacts of dynamic scoring and a current policy versus current law baseline remain to be seen, and lawmakers will need to determine the pay-fors needed to fill the gap as well as the tolerance for debt. "Those are the factors, essentially, that all need to be navigated through," he said, adding that lawmakers will be driven by the tax number that will be set in the final budget resolution. Also during the event, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) said Republicans tormented Presidents Obama and Clinton over deficits, but for a Republican president, deficits apparently don't matter. He also said Ways and Means will need some hearings on tax reform after Republicans unveil their bill.

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