Remains a mystery. It is a tale of two plans though at a critical phase for tax reform for republicans. This is a live shot of the house ways and means committee. Currently marking up its tax reform bill. Later today, were expecting to see the Senate Version as an exodus of Republican Congressmen continues today. After tuesdays electoral setback, the party needs a win on tax reform. Instead, they have competing tax plans that diverge in a number of significant ways. A big one according to the New York Times is that President Trumps highly touted Corporate Tax cut will be delayed by a year in the senate plan. Despite it all, however, House Speaker paul ryan says republicans are on track for final passage by the end of the year. Yes, there are details that are being ironed out in the committee process. That is exactly how the legislative process is supposed to work. It takes time. Trust me, were going to get this over the finish line. When we do this, make good on our word, make peoples lives better, were going to be just fine politically. Nbc news capitol hill correspondent caseyy hunt is with us. Break it down for us. What is in this new bill and how exactly does it differ from the house bill . Katie, the key question for today is going to be do these differences seem to throw into sharp relief major conflicts that could potentially threaten the passage of this bill. There are some critical areas. The first of which i would say is the state and local income Tax Deduction. So for viewers that live in places like new jersey, new york, california, theyre used to filing their taxes and being able to write off what are usually pretty high state, local and property taxes. That of course is a major issue for a lot of members of the house. But there arent really any senators from the affected states who are republicans. So it looks like the senate is on track to potentially completely eliminate that deduction. That would be different from the house plan where theyve worked really hard to strike a deal. The estate tax is another issue. It looks like the senate will probably maintain it in some form although it will apply to fewer people. The senate or the house of course is eliminating that entirely. These bills, though, at the end of the day will look probably relatively similar. Were expecting that really the political momentum around this is significant and its a lot different from health care where you had a lot of divisions. Instead, republicans on both sides of the capital feel like if they dont do this, its going to be a real problem. Take a look at what some senators had to say about it earlier today. How closely are you working now to sort of harmonize what the senate is doing with whats going on with the house side and kevin bradys team . Were trying to stay out of their way. Were going to be in moving and shaking mode for the rest of this month, thats for sure. What happens politically if republicans arent able to pass a tax reform package . The party fractures. Most income thats in 2018 will get a severe primary challenge. A lot of them will probably lose the base will fracture, the financial contributions will stop. Other than that, it will be fine. Pretty rosy assessment there from the always quotable senator Lindsey Graham of south carolina. I dont think you can overstate the degree to which republicans are feeling under pressure to do this. Theres been a little bit of a conversation about, okay, look what happened in virginia where democrats won across the board, particularly in suburbia. Does this tax plan potentially hurt suburban voters in a way that will make republicans back away a little bit. Seem like the overwhelming consensus is no, what they need to do is show americans that they are getting something done and that something is going to be this tax reform plan. I think everybody sort of agrees that if they dont if they dont do it, the consequences are incredibly dire. So that is giving this a sense of inevitability i think that we didnt have around health care, katie. What about all those new york Republican Congressmen who say they are not on board with this when it comes especially to the elimination of the deductions of state and local taxes . Right now its not clear theres enough of them to derail an overall package like this. Its likely that the vote in the house will still include that compromise where people are still allowed to write off up to 10,000 of their local property taxes. And that is probably going to be enough to assuage the concerns of at least enough of those members. Nbc is keeping a whip count. I believe we have fewer than ten republicans who have come out and said directly no, im not voting on this plan because of that deduction. At the end of the day, these moderate members are people that want to be there with leadership. They do have an imperative as well to show their constituents theyre getting something done for them. So that group is probably more likely to splinter. Think theres been a little more concern about making sure that the Freedom Caucus doesnt splinter on the other side of the conference. So they have to be a little bit careful about that because they do have probably more members on that list and if they all decide to jump ship, then the whole thing is sunk. So if you see the house pass a version of the bill that includes this compromise, maybe the Senate Passes a version that eliminates state and local Tax Deductions, it sounds like they are going to go to a conference. This process still have a long way to go before we know exactly how its going to affect american families. And according to the president , a christmas deadline. Kacie hunt i like that eye roll right there. I appreciated it. Well work on that next time around together. Thank you, my friend, appreciate it. And today in an interview with cnbcs john harwood, one of the Top White House officials charged with selling the president s tax plan, backtracked on whether the wealthy would get a tax cut. Back in september, National EconomicCouncil Director gary cohen was quite adamant the wealthy would not get a tax cut. We have also said that wealthy americans are not getting a tax cut. Will the wealthy get a tax cut or not . The wealthy are not getting a tax cut under our plan. Well, fast forward to today and cohen appears to admit what a slow of studies have already indicated. Yes, the wealthy will benefit. Youre not saying, as you did a few weeks ago, that the wealthy do not get a tax cut under your plan . Theres unique situation, to everyone out there. Everyone has their own story. Its not our intention to give the wealthy a tax cut. But theyre getting one . I dont believe that weve set out to create a tax cut for the wealthy. If someones getting a tax cut, im not upset that theyre getting a tax cut. Cnbcs john harwood is here, also jake sherman of politico and Jeremy Peters of the New York Times whos also an msnbc contributor. Imagine, on, that garys not so upset about it. After all, he came from Goldman Sachs. What did you make of that answer and how it differed from what he originally had said . Well, the administration, katie, throughout this process, has been contorting itself to say that this is a cut for the middle class. There are some cuts for the middle class. And some tax increases. But those are small compared to the benefits for the people at the top. That is undeniable. You look at state tax, the passthrough, business rate. The end of the alternative minimum tax. Theyre even raising the threshold at which the top rate of 39. 6 that currently applies would apply. So theres simply no getting around the fact that its a tax cut for the wealthy. Theyre now acknowledging that but say, well, we cant really help it because the wealthy pay most of the income taxes and therefore if you cut income taxes youre going to cut their taxes and we cant cut middle class taxes anymore because they dont pay that much. Obviously, there are other taxes like payroll taxes, for example, that arent reflected here. But theyre trying to push this plan and its a challenge. It was just a model that came out today, katie, that showed that by a former Bush Administration economist that by 2027, the top 1 would get 53 of the tax benefits of this republican bill. The bottom 80 would get 14 of the benefit. That is a tough sell politically. Jeremy, i i remember, im old enough to remember, donald trump going on the campaign trail and saying, were going to drain the swamp, were going to drain the swamp. And part of that message was were going to get rid of the massive disconnect between the haves and have nots. The super wealthy and everybody else. Hillary clinton is saying things behind closed doors to wall street bankers. He stacked his cabinet with members of the Banking Community from Goldman Sachs members. Gary cohen, from Goldman Sachs. Not a member of the cabinet but still. How does do voters this is sold to his constituents, or his con stet bents constituents across the country that will be rallying behind their senators or congressmen, are they going to care that the wealthy get a bigger tax cut so long as most of them get something of a tax cut . I mean, i think the only way that Donald Trumps voters turn on him is if they view him to be corrupted by the swamp. And a part of that could be if theyve come to see this tax cut as just a huge giveaway and they dont feel anything in their own pockets. The best thing donald trump can do for himself politically is to preside as president over an economy that is growing. That is creating jobs and putting more money in Bank Accounts for the average american. How this tax cut will do that if on the average its going to save people a few hundred, a few thousand dollars a year if youre middle class, i dont really know. And democrats are sure going to drive that message home that the wealthy are the ones who are getting the benefits, not the average american. And presumably if you take his word for it, although we havent seen his taxes so were not entirely sure how his plan would either help or hurt him. I just wanted to say adding on to jeremys point, when you if you think of trump voters as those blue collar whites who powered his nomination and his election, theyre not doing very well under this bill. But weve seen that theyre most likely to stick with donald trump more so than others. But the people who broke away from republicans in those virginia elections a couple of days ago, those suburban republicans who make a little bit more money, those happen to be some of the people who get the biggest tax increases in this bill. Because they lose their state and local Tax Deduction. So theres a lot of suburban upscale suburban republicans who are going to get tax increases. Thats where i would look for deflections. Long island republicans. Exactly. Steve kings district, those sorts of areas. Jake, my friend, my friend jake sherman, kacie was pretty bullish on the chances of this still passing in the house and senate. Mainly because republicans need to do something. They havent done anything yet and they need to get Something Big done. She was bullish. I will concede that. I ways listening to her too. Im a little bit more bearish on the prospect. Listen theyre a lot of things that dont line up in the house and senate bill. There are a lot of moving pieces. And what im looking for is people drawing lines in the sand. And thats going to be dangerous. If members of the some members of the house, mark meadow, the chair man of the Freedom Caucus, drew a line in the sand and said he would not be for delaying the tax cuts to 20 for a couple of years. Thats a problem because the senates going to do that. There are a lot of people in the house that have gotten wedded to this bill. Could Kevin Mccarthy who has kept all californians together against this state and local Tax Deduction issue, can he continue to hold them together. This is a long process. The administration has said this made up deadline on december 31st. I dont think thats going to happen. We have plans december in new york. But i think this process is going to take a little longer. Christmas deadline, not so much . Not so much. Jeremy, you were talking you have interviewed steve bannon. It comes out tomorrow in the New York Times. Steve bannon, well, theres a bit of a preview today. Let me play what bannon said about trumps popularity with voters and about the virginia election. Hes going to win ereelection on 400 electoral votes and will be considered in the pantheon of reagan and lincoln and others as great president s. You have to stick to the program. Who did gill lespie campaign with . I think bush and rice, right . Did he have donald trump standing next to him . No, he did not. How did i mean, talk to me about being bullish or bearish. Being bearish on Donald Trumps chances for 2020. Thats a long way off. Thats quite an electoral spread hes predicting. Well, hey, steve bannon learned from the greatest of political performance artists. I do think theres a bit of hyperbole there. Whos the greatest political performance . Trump. As you know better than anyone. But i do think theres some truth to his second statement there about ed gillespie and the reason ed gillespie didnt appeal. Its applieded more broadly to establishment republicans. I think it makes more sense. Gillespie was such a specific case. He was a lobbyist. He was seen as a swamp creature, as part of the establishment. So you really couldnt run as a trumpite in virginia. Thats not appealing in virginia anyway. In other states, that will be appealing to run as a trump candidate and bannon is not wrong when he says theres an awful lot of republicans who are going to reject candidates who are seen as being part of the bush rubio party rather than of the trump party. You know what we saw in virginia, which i think might sway the election in 2018 or 2020, is we saw enthusiasm on the Democratic Party. There was no enthusiasm on the Democratic Party for 2016. Donald trump was relying on a coalition of people who really just hated the democrats and wanted change. And he was able to turn them. But going forward, if the democrats are able to maintain this sense of urgency on their part, the sense of our countrys changing and we dont like the way it is changing or its reverting and we dont like the way its reverting, do you see political wind flowing back in their direction . Will political gravity be restored . I think its hard to say right now just how strong the antiincumbency fervor is on the right. I think its quite strong. If it lasts until 2018, i dont know yet. I think the tax bill hls a lot to do with that. I think there could be a real throw the bums energy out there that is going to really be it could be a real detriment to people defending their seats, especially in the senate. Jeremy peters, john harwood, if you can do it in ten seconds. I can. Theres only one word for Steve Bannons claims that donald trump will get 400 electoral votes and ed gillespie would have done better campaigning with him. The word is unbelievable. I like those ten seconds. Good job, john harwood. Jeremy peters and jake sherman. No other person id rather waste my time with. Gentle men, thank you. President trump meanwhile has a change of heart about china, choosing to heap praise on president xi. So what happened to America First . One year after win being the white house, well show you how the president s policies are impacting some families. Mr. Trump had caused so much pain in so many families like myself that we just have to realize, like, he cant have that big of an effect. We cant let him have that big of an effect. Theyre ripping this up, folks. Its time. Im so happy theyre upset. Im going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china a currency manipulator. China rips us off left and right. We cant continue to allow china to rape our country. That was candidate trump in 2016 talking about china. Today, President Trump speaking in beijing. Took a decidedly different tone on chinas economic policies. Right now, unfortunately, it is a very onesided and unfair one. But, but, i dont blame china. [ scattered applause ] after all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens . Msnbc Senior National correspondent Chris Jansing is in a cold and windy beijing and were joined by ambassador nicholas byrnes, former underpolitical secretary of state and former ambassador to nato. Chris, ill begin with you so you can get out of there and your hair is going everywhere. I feel bad for you, my friend. Donald trump, its a decidedly different tone. He was calling china a currency manipulator. He was saying how hard he would be on them once he got elected into office and hes been saying things on twitter but in the moments where he is facetoface with president xi, he seems to really back down from his hardline position. Yes, its a startling and dramatic aboutface, isnt it . Now, Rex Tillerson tried to say in a briefing with reporters what is yesterday, our local time, here in china, that this was a tongue in cheek. He said the president was trying to make the point that the imbalance existed long before president xi, that it has been decades and many administrations where this has grown. Having said that, listen to what you just played and you hear how very different it is. This is not the case of a candidate sounding different after they become president. Its somebody sounding very different here than they did just a week ago before coming on this allimportant asia trip. Certainly the china state media is considering this a win. The president praising president xi. They s