Today’s reincarnation of the “Trump Rally”, manifested by a jump in small-cap stocks, which as a reminder are the best equity proxy for the future of the US economy, and a long-overdue spike in US dollar…
… is due to the previously observed spark in Trump tax plan talk, whose outline Paul Ryan said earlier could be unveiled as soon as September 25, as well as a report that Trump’s tax reform discussions would include Senate Democrats. Now, adding to the speculation that Trump may actually pull off another deal with Democrats over GOP objections, is a report from ABC that one week after allying himself with Democratic congressional leadership on efforts to raise the debt limit and provide money for hurricane relief, on Wednesday night Trump will host top Democrats, Senate and House Minority Leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi for dinner at the White House to discuss DACA, health care reform along with “fall deadlines” – two points that have become Democrat bargaining chips for Trump’s agenda.
While not explicitly mentioned, Trump will certainly also discuss his proposed tax plan. More details on tonight’s meeting from ABC:
The focus of Wednesday’s dinner, according to sources familiar with the meeting, will be to discuss protections for so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants currently protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which the administration said last week it would end in six months. The trio will also talk about efforts to stabilize health care markets.
The dinner will follow a bipartisan roundtable between a number of leading moderate House Democrats with Trump Wednesday afternoon.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., a leader of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, said the White House legislative affairs office invited him and other members to discuss health care, tax reform and infrastructure Wednesday afternoon. “I’m hoping this is part of a new era of bipartisanship. Because that’s what people want,” he said.
Gottheimer, who attended a bipartisan meeting at the White House last week on New York and New Jersey infrastructure projects, told reporters he wants to discuss the status of young undocumented immigrants with Trump, and push for a vote to address the expiring DACA policy. “If there’s bipartisan support to get something done, let’s bring it to the floor and get legislation passed,” he said.
Among the republicans invited to the session is Tom Reed, the other co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus. It was not clear if Gary Cohn will be present at tonight’s dinner, however.
The bipartisan meeting will take place at 2 p.m. in the White House Cabinet Room, according to the president’s schedule.
Meanwhile, as Rasmussen reports, “despite their failure to advance President Trump’s agenda, congressional Republicans aren’t happy about his outreach to Democrats in the House and Senate, but most voters think it’s a great idea.”
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 66% of Likely U.S. Voters say it is good for the country if Trump works with congressional Democrats to advance his agenda. Just 13% think the bipartisan cooperation is bad for the country, while 21% are undecided.
Only 19% believe the president should continue to rely on congressional Republicans to pass his agenda. That’s down from 29% in early April. Sixty-five percent (65%) now feel he should reach out more to Democrats in Congress for help versus 58% who felt that way five months ago. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.
Republicans (72%) are even more enthusiastic about the president working with congressional Democrats than Democrats (62%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (63%) are.
While the outcome of the dinner is unknown, judging by the market’s reaction and the rekindling of the Trump trade, it appears that at least according to trader, Trump’s pivot away from Republicans and toward democrats, where the quid-pro-quo is insurance/DACA in exchange for tax reform, suggests the probability of a successful outcome is rising by the minute.
via http://ift.tt/2jp32kg Tyler Durden