Wall Street Journal: House Democrats Ask Steven Mnuchin to Provide Treasury Tax Analysis

Democrats on the tax-bill conference committee are asking Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to appear to back up his claims about the bill's growth effects.

In a letter Thursday, the five House Democrats asked Mr. Mnuchin to provide the conference committee with a copy of the agency's economic analysis of the tax plan and to appear before them, along with the director of Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis, to explain their findings.

Mr. Mnuchin has repeatedly said a Treasury analysis shows the tax plan would generate enough economic growth to pay for itself, and at one point said it would pay down the debt. But the agency has never released the analysis to the public, and some Democrats have begun to question whether one exists at all.

The Treasury inspector general has launched an inquiry into Mr. Mnuchin's claims and Treasury's work, including whether the secretary misled the public about the analysis.

The authors of the letter—Reps. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Sander Levin of Michigan, Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Kathy Castor of Florida—pointed out that "numerous independent experts" have found the bill would not generate enough growth to offset its costs.

"We would like to hear from you as a witness from the administration to share your opposing views and supporting evidence," they said.

A Treasury spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kate Davidson