President Trump continued his push for bipartisanship by dining with three Democrats who are up for re-election next year in states he won handily.
On the menu: tax cuts.
Trump sought to garner support for his tax-reform proposal Tuesday by wooing Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
The White House dinner was designed to “start that conversation,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
“Start talking about things that we all agree on . . . Most everyone can agree that Americans should keep more of their money than the government,” she said.
All three Democrats face tough re-election fights next year in red states, and all three declined to sign a Democratic Party letter on Aug. 1 outlining their baseline demands on tax reform.
Donnelly told The Post he wants a bipartisan tax-reform plan and believes he can find common ground with Trump on certain provisions to keep jobs in the United States.
“I think we work so much better when we all work together and put our ideas in,” Donnelly said Tuesday. “That’s what I’m very, very hopeful will happen. And I want to talk to him about making sure we keep jobs in America, which he’s already told me he’s very supportive of.”
Donnelly wants the tax reform package to eliminate tax breaks for employers who move jobs overseas and to reward companies that bring jobs back — a principle that Trump has supported.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence hosted the three Democrats along with three Republicans. One of them, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said the White House is making an earnest effort at bipartisanship.
“I think what we’re trying to do is test the limits of whether or not there would be Democrat support for any kind of tax-reform bill and to find out where some of the more moderate-leaning Democrats in the Senate might be, and if there is, in fact, a way we could get a bipartisan tax bill,” Thune said on Tuesday.
The White House is realizing “it’s always easier to get things done if you have bipartisan cooperation,” Thune added.
