White House expected to address GOP tax plan

Editor’s note: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was scheduled to speak around 3 p.m. ET. The briefing was canceled shortly before then.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is likely to field questions Tuesday about President Donald Trump and Republican senators’ push for a tax vote this week, an effort to deliver on a key promise before Congress’ recess at the end of next week.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump went to Capitol Hill for a meeting with Senate Republicans to promote his tax plan.

Trump’s address to a Senate GOP luncheon comes shortly after Democratic leaders pulled out of a planned meeting later in the day with Trump at the White House.

Trump had been expected to discuss upcoming congressional deadlines to fund the government with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

But the president tweeted earlier in the day that he didn’t “see a deal” with the Democratic leaders. Schumer and Pelosi said they wouldn’t attend the meeting so as to not waste time.

Trump is searching for a win in Congress on his tax bill, which is expected to face a Senate vote later this week.

READ MORE: How the Senate tax bill affects rich and poor, in three charts

Meanwhile, the White House said it is “disappointing” that congressional Democratic leaders are pulling out of a meeting with President Donald Trump following his Twitter attack on them.

Sanders says Trump’s invitation for Schumer and Pelosi to join Republican leaders at the White House on Tuesday still stands.

Sanders says the president “encourages them to put aside their pettiness, stop the political grandstanding, show up and get to work.”

“If the Democrats believe the American people deserve action on these critical year-end issues as we do, they should attend,” Sanders said.