Federal lawmakers praise vice president’s W.Va. Business Summit speech

Aug. 31--WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS -- State and federal lawmakers attending the West Virginia Business Summit Wednesday praised Vice President Mike Pence's speech.

Pence spoke at the event hosted by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Wednesday evening. He spoke about ongoing recovery efforts in Texas and Louisiana following devastation from Hurricane Harvey. He also encouraged lawmakers' support of Trump's tax proposal.

Many state legislators were in attendance Wednesday along with Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin and Congressmen Evan Jenkins and David McKinley.

House and Senate leaders talked about tax efforts in the West Virginia Legislature, saying they felt it would make a comeback.

Manchin said he felt Pence addressed key points for West Virginia, mentioning the coal industry in particular. He also said the recovery efforts especially hit home with West Virginia experiencing devastating floods, both last year and this year.

"We want to make sure we as West Virginians, who have been through these tragedies, do not forget our brothers and sisters in Texas and Louisiana who are going through horrific flooding," Manchin said.

Manchin agreed with Pence, saying he felt the nation needs tax code reform. Pence referenced President Donald Trump's visit to Springfield, Missouri. According to the New York Times, Trump pitched a sweeping tax overhaul, promising a large corporate tax cut and cuts to individual income tax rates that he said would boost the middle class.

"We need tax code reform," Manchin said. "It hasn't been done since 1986. But it has to be balanced. My main concern is we cannot continue to add more debt to our national debt. We need to change. We need to create more revenue for the country to pay its bills. On the other hand, it has to be more competitive too."

When Pence encouraged the crowd to tell lawmakers to support Trump's plan, he specifically addressed Manchin, saying "Let me say to Shelley and especially Joe, the president and the people of the Mountain State are counting on you."

"Basically, he means Democrats and that's good," Manchin said. "He and I spoke. I said, Mr. Vice President, I am more than happy to work with you. I want us to succeeds. And he knows that I bring Democrats and I bring moderate Democrats to the table. ... We have to look at a reasonable rate and a competitive rate. We can't say we need this and need this. We have got to be competitive. ...We also need to take care of those in the middle class so they're not overburdened."

Senate President Mitch Carmichael and House Speaker Tim Armstead also attended Wednesday evening's speeches. Both mentioned the fact that this is the third visit from the Trump administration in the last two months with Trump speaking to Boy Scouts in July and holding a campaign rally in Huntington earlier this month.

"It's wonderful that the vice president of the United States of America would come to the West Virginia Business Summit to talk about the successes that not only the President of the United States is experiencing in terms of resurgence of the American economy but the West Virginia economy with the resurgence of coal and natural gas industry and the growth to the extent they are," Carmichael said. "This is a wonderful day. It's great to have the VP of the United States here to talk to this wonderful group of people."

Both Carmichael and Armstead talked about tax reform efforts in the state Legislature. In the last legislative session, the Senate proposed a plan, which the governor supported, to lower the income tax and increase the sales tax, which the House majority did not want to adopt.

"We went down that road of tax reform in West Virginia. We want to do that. I think it's amazing that the West Virginia State Senate approached that with vigor and enthusiasm and now the president also has embraced the idea of reducing taxes to out more money in working people's pockets to put people back to work."

Carmichael said he believes tax reform will come back in the next legislative session in some form.

"Income taxes should be cut. Work should be incentivized and people sould go back to work rather than be on public assistance," Carmichael said. "I am extremely supportive of that initiative."

Armstead said he was excited to hear Pence talk about tax cuts.He said he felt tax reform would come back this time around in the session as well but hoped it would be a different proposal than last year.

"I hope we don't revisit the idea of raising the sales tax," he said. "That was a real challenge and most members of the House didn't support it."

Armstead said he and other officials have been talking about alternatives, in particular reducing the equipment inventory tax and perhaps, reducing the personal income tax.

"But we would base it on growth in the economy rather than try to raise another tax to offset it," he said. "We would like to see growth in the economy to cut taxes. That's where we're starting to see a consensus between the House and the Senate. If we do revisit it, I hope it's in that area."

Several members of the local delegation attended Wednesday night's event as well, including Delegate John O'Neal, R-Raleigh.

"It's encouraging to me that the vice president was here," O'Neal said. "The president has been here twice recently. They are showing a commitment to our state, to business in the state and jobs in our state. I thought both gave important speeches that touched on all key points. I am optimistic for the country and state."

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