In his speech inside a Springfield manufacturing plant Wednesday, President Donald Trump called on the crowd to vote out of office members of Congress who go against his suggestions to overhaul America’s tax code.
He told the audience that the countries that have low business tax rates have an advantage over the United States.
“They are taking us, frankly, to the cleaners. So we must—we have no choice—we must lower our taxes. And your Senator, Claire McCaskill, she must do this for you. And if she doesn’t do it for you, you have to vote her out of office,” Trump said.
He referred to Democrats in Congress as “obstructionists,” citing their votes against the repeal of Obamacare and appointments made by the new administration.
McCaskill issued a statement days before the visit saying she was optimistic that she would find “common ground” with President Trump in the area of tax reform.
Missouri’s other senator, Republican Roy Blunt, was at the private event and says he’s on board with the president’s plans.
“As the president said today, nobody spends money more effectively than families spending money they way they want to spend it, rather than the government deciding how to spend it for them,” Blunt said.
James Armstrong, a retired nuclear engineer living in Springfield, said he took to heart the president’s message about pressuring his Congressional members to pass new tax legislation.
“Congress should work with him more. And the ones who don’t work with him, we need to work on getting them out of Congress. If they don’t do their job, they need to be fired,” Armstrong said.
The Democratic National Committee issued a statement saying tax plans put forth by Trump and Republicans in the past would have benefited the “super-rich and corporations over hardworking Americans.”
In laying out his tax overhaul plan Wednesday, Trump spoke broadly about simplifying the tax code and “eliminating special-interest loopholes.” He repeatedly called for a fair tax system toward middle class Americans and one that would keep businesses in the U.S.