President Donald Trump has been claiming that Congress will pass a tax cut for middle-class people before the midterms, but that’s impossible because Congress will not be in session until Nov. 13. That’s a week after the actual election. Here’s how he responded when a reporter pointed this out in the afternoon:
Q: Are you signing an executive order for that?
THE PRESIDENT: No. No. No. I’m going through Congress.
Q: But Congress isn’t in session though.
THE PRESIDENT: We won’t have time to do the vote. We’ll do the vote later.
Q: Congress is out.
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll do the vote after the election.
He first made the false claim Saturday at a rally in Nevada. On Monday, he promised reporters “a resolution sometime in the next week, or week and a half, two weeks.” You can see the full exchange below:
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 22, 2018
The exchange got some to voice annoyance, and invited others to put on their fact-checking hats. CNN anchor Jake Tapper just straight-up tweeted, “??????.”
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) October 22, 2018
President Trump just told reporters that he will lower middle-class taxes by 10% before the election. This is not possible. Congress is gone and will not be coming back before Election Day.
— Phil Elliott (@Philip_Elliott) October 22, 2018
Trump just LIED to reporters saying Republicans would be passing a 10% tax cut for the middle-class BEFORE the election.
Congress is not in session before the election.
He’s literally just saying any ol’ shit that comes into his head at this point.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) October 22, 2018
Trump’s midterm campaign strategy is just a full on blitz of lies, and 90% of the press hasn’t figured out how to cover it correctly. A bad omen for 2020. https://t.co/w30ZMhGFfO
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 22, 2018
On top of that, Congress doesn’t seem ready to push tax legislation even immediately after the midterms. Trump didn’t provide many details, and lawmakers have reportedly been referring questions back to the White House.
-There is no new legislative tax cut circulating on the Hill, 10% or otherwise.
-Sr GOPers in both chambers have no idea what POTUS is talking about.
-No time/will to pass anything in lame duck either.
-Don’t even get me started on it being referred to as a “resolution”-30-
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) October 22, 2018
[Image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
