EXCLUSIVE: House Conservatives Urge Senate To Keep ‘Pay-For’ In Trump Bill

Republican Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen sent a letter to the Senate’s tax-writing committee Thursday to urge the upper chamber to preserve a provision in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill that closes a loophole exploited by foreign tobacco producers.

Brecheen, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus (HFC), is calling on Senate Finance Committee chairman Mike Crapo and members of the tax-writing panel to maintain a provision in the House-passed bill that closes a loophole known as the “double duty drawback.” The Oklahoma Republican argues that closing the loophole is a “critical” pay-for in the president’s bill that would save more than $12 billion over a ten-year period, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation.

“We urge the Senate not to revive this loophole that is exploited by foreign tobacco producers to game the U.S. market,” Brecheen told the DCNF in a statement. “This loophole unfairly favors foreign companies, who get to dodge paying excise taxes while claiming tax refunds they never earned, while American businesses are forced to bear the brunt of billions in fraudulent pay-outs.”

📺 Embedded media — coming soon

“The Trump Administration recognized this anti-American policy and tried to fix it in 2018, but it’s up to Congress to finish what President Trump started and end this unfair practice that cheats American taxpayers and undermines fiscal responsibility in the reconciliation bill,” Brecheen added.

Senate Republicans are racing to pass a Senate-amended version of the House-passed bill by Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s July 4 deadline. House GOP leadership has urged