No McCaskill in Trump’s tax-reform outreach to centrist Senate Democrats

Sept. 12--WASHINGTON -- Of the 10 Democratic senators up for reelection in states won by President Trump last year, three are getting the open-door treatment from the Trump White House.

The rest, including Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., not so much.

The dichotomy exposes a potential divide inside the Democratic caucus as Trump tries to push tax reform as his next big-ticket initiative.

Coming as it does after the Republican failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act earlier this year with Democrats solidly against the GOP plans, the schism could have a big effect on policy debates going forward, and on Trump's role in the 2018 mid-term elections.

Trump scheduled a dinner Tuesday night with a half dozen senators -- three of them Democrats -- to discuss tax reform ideas. The three Democrats invited were Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va.; Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.; and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. The three Republican senators, all members of the Finance Committee, were Orrin Hatch of Utah, John Thune of South Dakota, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Trump praised Heitkamp as a "good woman" in a tax-reform speech in Mandan, N.D., last week, and said he hoped they could mutually support a tax-reform plan.

Trump buried Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by 35 percentage points in North Dakota last year.

A week earlier, speaking in a state he won by 19 percentage points in 2016, Trump took a tougher approach toward McCaskill at a speech in Springfield, saying that Missourians should "vote her out of office" if she doesn't go along with a tax-reform bill he could sign.

The president lumped McCaskill in the camp of "obstructionists" he said are thwarting his agenda.

McCaskill did not respond.

Throughout her career in the Senate, McCaskill has portrayed herself as a centrist and has worked with Republicans on issues ranging from spending oversight to human trafficking.

Shortly after Trump took office, she expressed a willingness to work with the new president, but has never met with him outside of widely attended social events. McCasklill missed an initial meet-and-greet Trump had with senators in February because she had conflicts with Missouri teachers attending a meeting here. According to her office, McCaskill has been to the White House for meetings or social events four times during the Trump presidency.

In July, she was at a White House meeting with Ivanka Trump on paid family leave; in June, she was in a meeting with presidential adviser Jared Kushner on tech infrastructure. She also attended an all-Senate briefing on North Korea in April, and a cocktail reception for senators in March.

"She hasn't yet had the chance to visit with the President one-on-one but we're sure she will soon," Press Secretary Sarah Feldman said Tuesday.

In April, McCaskill voted against Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch. He was confirmed, 54-45, with Heitkamp, Donnelly and Manchin the only three Democrats voting yes.

Then, last month, those same three were the only Senate Democrats who did not sign a letter by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer laying out conditions of tax reform they would accept from Trump.

McCaskill was one of the 45 Democratic Senators to sign that letter. In general, Democrats oppose a plan that would reduce taxes for upper-income brackets and cut corporate taxes too deeply.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said at the time the letter signified a partisan response by Democrats that could force him to use a legislative process called "reconciliation," which requires only a majority of votes to pass some form of tax reform. McConnell said then that any hope of replicating a 1986 bipartisan rewrite of the tax code under then-President Ronald Reagan was made more difficult by the Democratic letter.

That 1986 reform, the last major one by Congress, got 74 yes votes in the Senate -- 41 Republicans and 33 Democrats.

Getting any Democrats to vote for a Trump tax reform bill -- with the three Tuesday night dinner invitees the logical first targets -- would allow Republicans to label it as having bipartisan support. Democrats who oppose a tax-reform bill that gets Democratic votes would be ripe 2018 campaign advertising targets in states won by Trump.

Trump surprised Republican leaders in Congress last week when he agreed to a hurricane disaster relief plan that essentially acquiesced to Democrat demands for a short-term extension of the debt ceiling until December. Would Trump campaign for Democrats in 2018 who bucked their party and supported tax reform?

A White House spokesperson stepped around that question this way:

"As the President has said repeatedly, his top priority is to provide tax relief to middle class Americans. The President welcomes both Democrats and Republicans to work alongside the administration to enact historic tax reform that is pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-worker, and pro-America."

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