Overview
Steptoe partner Micah Green, who co-leads the firm’s Government Affairs & Public Policy Group and leads the financial services practice, was quoted in articles in The Bond Buyer and Financial Times looking at the potential policy implications of the 2016 election.
In an article in The Bond Buyer titled “What A Shift In Power in the Senate Could Mean For Munis,” Mr. Green predicts that tax reform could be very possible in 2017 as Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is in line to become Senate Majority Leader if the Democrats win the Senate, has made tax reform a top priority, as has House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who spearheaded the GOP blueprint for tax reform released this year.
"The lesson from '86 is, if the White House is committed to some form of tax reform discussion, then I think Chuck Schumer and Paul Ryan would try and get it done," he says. "The pure policy idea of having a serious discussion or action on tax reform is very much in the wheelhouse of both Schumer and Ryan."
However, if factions within both parties continue to push for their own legislative priorities, there could be roadblocks.
In the Financial Times article, titled “New President, Same Old Problem: Capitol Hill Deadlock,” Mr. Green says, “If everything depends on appeasing the fringe elements of the Democratic party and the Republican party, it will be very difficult to achieve a negotiated success in Congress.”
The full articles can be read in The Bond Buyer and the Financial Times (subscription required).
