The center of gravity of the tax universe is shifting to Hamilton Place.
The Treasury Department’s hiring of Derek Theurer, Speaker Mike Johnson’s tax adviser and a former Ways and Means Committee chief tax counsel, and Ken Kies, one of the top tax lobbyists in town, is cementing the Trump administration’s central role in extending the 2017 tax cuts.
This is a big shift. In 2017, Capitol Hill drove the tax-cut process, bolstered by then-Speaker Paul Ryan, a decades-long veteran of fiscal wars, then-Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and then-Ways and Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady (R-Texas). These men were bolstered by a very seasoned team of aides, which included Brendan Dunn, Jay Khosla, David Stewart and George Callas.
This time around, the speaker has no top tax aide. The Ways and Means Committee has just elevated a staffer to fill their top tax job. Some worry that neither the speaker nor the committee has the intricate experience needed to craft and pass a tax package.
And on top of that, on Capitol Hill, there has been significant turnover among members and staff since 2017, necessitating a crash course, of sorts, in bringing lawmakers and their aides up to speed on tax policy over recent months.
The dearth of experience at Ways and Means and in the leadership does call into question whether the GOP will be able to wrap up reconciliation by the end of April.
Who to watch on the Hill: At the leadership level, it’s unclear if Johnson will bring in a new tax hand to replace Theurer. The speaker doesn’t always have someone with as extensive of a tax background on staff.
On the committee level, Ways and Means appears to be elevating one of its own. After Theurer left Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith’s (R-Mo.) staff last spring, a lot of tax watchers in Congress and downtown were closely watching to see who would replace him. They’ve been waiting a while.
Sean Clerget, chief oversight counsel on Ways and Means since 2021, stepped in and has assumed the work of the chief tax counsel role, according to several sources. Clerget was the oversight counsel – not a tax expert, but he worked on IRS oversight and on the Smith-Wyden tax deal.
There’s a case to be made that institutional knowledge isn’t everything. Republicans know the gist of what they want to do in this tax bill with far more certainty than in 2017. The paper-thin House majority won’t make it easy.
The coming months will be about figuring out the technical details of the tax bill and Trump’s must-haves, but also walking a tightrope to get through the House.
And over on the Senate Finance Committee, Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) has several tax and budget-focused aides who were on the Hill in 2017. Both Randy Herndon, deputy chief tax counsel, and Becky Cole, chief economist, were aides at the time. The other key tax staffer for Crapo is Chief Tax Counsel Courtney Connell, who joined Finance in 2020.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune also brings a strong tax background to the leadership level. Thune remains a Finance member and was once a tax aide himself in the 1980s.
Staff moves: Jack Rosemond, a senior adviser on Smith’s Ways and Means staff, is joining the White House legislative affairs team, according to multiple sources.