{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-democratic-conferees-request-treasury-secretary-appear-tax", "House Democratic Conferees Request Treasury Secretary to Appear with Tax Analysis", "2017-12-07", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Lloyd Doggett", "D000399", "doggett.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, the House Democratic Members of the Conference Committee on the Republican tax bill urged Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to provide a copy of any Treasury Department analysis of the economic impact of this legislation and to appear before the Conference Committee for questioning about it and other issues.\u00a0Secretary Mnuchin had said in September that 100 people at Treasury were \u201cworking around the clock\u201d to produce the analysis.\u00a0The Inspector General at the Treasury Department has already opened an inquiry based upon a November 30 request from Senator Elizabeth Warren regarding possible suppression of the report for political reasons.\nRep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said, \u201cA promised report, once presented as essential, now appears to have disappeared.\u00a0Nor has a single Administration witness come before either the House or Senate to defend and answer questions about this far-reaching tax legislation. Especially with the views of Trump officials varying so widely from the analyses of the vast majority of economists, obtaining the Treasury Department\u2019s work is important.\u00a0A prompt answer to our request can respond to the one anonymous economist at the Office of Tax Analysis, who maintains that the reason the promised analysis has not been released is because no such analysis exists.\u201d\nA signed version of the letter is attached and the text of letter is below.\nDecember 7, 2017\n\u00a0\nThe Honorable Steven Mnuchin\nSecretary\nDepartment of the Treasury\n1500 Pennsylvania Avenue\nWashington, DC 20220\nDear Secretary Mnuchin:\nNow that conferees will soon be meeting to adjust the differences between the House and Senate on tax legislation, we hope that you will appear before us to review it with us. In September, you said that \u201cnot only will this tax plan pay for itself, but it will pay down the debt.\u201d You have said that over 100 people in Treasury are \u201cworking around the clock on running scenarios for us\u201d to produce an analysis supporting this conclusion. \u00a0\u00a0\nWe respectfully request a copy of this Department of Treasury analysis of the tax bill\u2019s economic impact, and that you, along with the Director of the Office of Tax Analysis, appear before the Conference Committee to explain its findings and to respond to other concerns.\nNumerous independent experts have found that this tax bill would raise taxes on millions of Americans, produce little economic growth, and add trillions to the national debt. We would like to hear from you as a witness from the Administration to share your opposing views and supporting evidence.\nNumerous economists and economic analyses of the tax bill contradict the Administration\u2019s views, including:\n The Joint Committee on Taxation which found that economic growth would not make up for $1 trillion worth of the new debt it creates.\n\tA University of Chicago survey of prominent economists, which found that only one of 38 respondents believed that the Republican tax bill would lead to \u201csubstantially higher\u201d higher economic growth.\n\tChief Moody\u2019s Analytics economist Mark Zandi, who explained that the Republican plan \u201cdoes little to boost growth because it will increase rates and debt.\u201d\n\tRepublican economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who said in May that \u201cthere\u2019s just no evidence that the tax cuts actually pay for themselves.\u201d\n\tBruce Bartlett, a former top economic advisor to Ronald Reagan, who has called the claim that tax cuts can pay for themselves \u201ccomplete nonsense.\u201d\n\tPresident George W. Bush\u2019s former Treasury Secretary, Paul O\u2019Neill, was \u201cdumbfounded by the notion that the tax cuts\u2026would not add to the debt.\u201d\n\tYour former employer, Goldman Sachs, which concluded that \u201cthe effect in 2020 and beyond looks minimal and could actually be slightly negative.\u201d\n Everyone, on both sides of the aisle, agrees that this legislation will remove popular deductions for many Americans. They agree that in the immediate term it will add over $1 trillion dollars to the debt, and, under current law, will require cuts to Medicare, farm subsidies, and other essential programs. \u00a0Your views, especially to the extent that they rely on evidence different from the experts cited above, would be very helpful as we continue to consider the impact of this legislation. We hope you will appear before the committee.\nSincerely,\nCongressman Richard Neal\nCongressman Lloyd Doggett\nCongressman Sander Levin\nCongressman Ra\u00fal Grijalva\nCongresswoman Kathy Castor\n\u00a0\n###\nFollow Lloyd Doggett\nFacebook:\u00a0www.Facebook.com/RepLloydDoggett\u00a0|Twitter:@RepLloydDoggett\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram:@RepLloydDoggett", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-democratic-conferees-request-treasury-secretary-appear-tax"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.756600871682167, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}