Democrats are unlikely to agree to take up so-called tax extenders anytime soon without a deal to extend Obamacare health care subsidies, a top tax aide said Wednesday.
“A deal on health care is going to have to unlock before there is a meaningful tax vehicle,” said Andrew Grossman, chief tax counsel for Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee.
“It is very difficult for our members to countenance doing some of the various tax extenders or other businesslike provisions and letting those jump the line, when 15 million people are losing their health insurance,” Grossman said at a tax conference sponsored by the District of Columbia Bar.
Appearing at the same event, his Republican counterparts — Sean Clerget, chief tax counsel for Ways and Means Republicans, and Randy Herndon, deputy chief tax counsel on the Senate Finance Committee — said their bosses would be happy to move bipartisan legislation addressing various unresolved tax issues regardless of the outcome of the dispute over Obamacare.
