Sunday shows preview: Stark differences on impact of tax bill heading into 2018

Lawmakers are expected to offer sharply different takeaways from the GOP tax legislation signed into law this week when they appear on the morning talk shows this Sunday.

President Trump and congressional Republicans scored their first major legislative victory this week by passing their bill to overhaul the U.S. tax code. Trump signed the bill Friday.

Republicans have cast the plan as a Christmas gift to the American people, citing the expanded standard deduction, the repatriation of earnings that companies currently have held overseas and the lowering of the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. 

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“It’s going to be a tremendous thing for the American people. It’s going to be fantastic for the economy,” Trump said on Friday. “It’s going to keep companies from leaving our shores and opening up in other countries.”

“Corporations are literally going wild over this.” 

However, Democrats have seized upon a slew of polls illustrating the plan’s deep unpopularity among the American public, while noting that most of the tax cuts for individuals expire after eight years, while the ones for corporations are permanent.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last week showed 63 percent of respondents thought the bill would mostly benefit the wealthy and corporations, while a CNN poll last week showed 55 percent opposing the plan.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) dubbed the bill as “Foolhardy at best and deceitful at worst,” while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said “we are witnessing highway robbery in broad daylight and a looting of the Federal Treasury.”

Democrats are hoping to use the plan’s unpopularity as a means to campaign in 2018 after scoring three off-year electoral victories in Alabama, Virginia and New Jersey, coupled with the president’s low popularity. 

Republicans are bracing for what could be an uphill battle in defending congressional seats from Democrats in 2018. 

The former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said the party’s majority in the House is very much at risk and compared the upcoming 2018 races to a hurricane. 

“They’re running with the wind in their face and it’s not a normal breeze,” Cole said referring to Republican candidates. “It’s a hurricane-force wind.”

The upcoming races and the impact of tax reform are likely to be major topics of discussion on Washington’s Sunday show circuit.

Here’s the Christmas Eve lineup: 

ABC’s “This Week”: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is set to appear on the program, as is Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). 

CNN’s “State of the Union”: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will join the cable news show. 

“Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and White House legislative affairs director Marc Short will both make appearances on the show. 

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Political analysts 

CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Correspondent panel