Congressional Republicans vow to keep pressing forward on tax reform, despite the media attention on the indictments in the Russian probe as one senator joked that the distraction might actually help.
"We're just gonna kind of go right on below the radar and pass tax reform, and nobody will know what happened," Sen. John Thune of South Dakota told Politico.
Although Thune was joking, his quip underscored some of the tough issues facing House and Senate Republicans as they try to craft a bill to cut income taxes and lower corporate taxes. Special interest groups already are hovering around Capitol Hill to save tax deductions that could be threatened in a reform bill.
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin told a local talk radio show that he plans to keep his members focused on tax reform, The Hill reported.
"Nothing's going to derail what we're doing in Congress," he said.
Some Senate Republicans worried that President Donald Tump might get distracted by the indictments of his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and two aides in his presidential campaign.
"The only impact I see is drawing away the power of the bully pulpit," said Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma.
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