"I like to stay on the optimistic side to assume that though this seems to have stalled on the surface, ground work has never stopped," says Yilin Hou, professor of public administration and international affairs. "The Chinese style is, once something is announced, everything has been already done."

"Their (Chinese) classroom participation patterns right now really have pushed a lot of professors to think about how they can adjust the way they teach," says Yingyi Ma, associate professor of sociology and O'Hanley Faculty Scholar.

According to Leonard Burman, professor of public administration and international affairs, "Trump’s 'tax reform plan' isn’t tax reform and it isn’t a plan. To borrow an analogy from the president’s favorite sport, he should take a mulligan and swing again at tax reform after he’s brought on a tax policy team and they’ve had a chance to do their homework."

“I think at the end of the day, you’re not going to see either the Trump or the House GOP tax plan. It will look a little more like George W. Bush’s 2001 tax bill—mostly just rate cuts,” says Leonard Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics.

"An Analysis of the House GOP Tax Plan," co-authored by Len Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, examines the House GOP tax reform blueprint, which would significantly reduce marginal tax rates, increase standard deduction amounts, repeal personal exemptions and most itemized deductions, and convert business taxation into a destination-based cash flow consumption tax.

Leonard Burman, professor of public administration and international affairs, opines that President Reagan "got people excited about the idea of fixing our broken tax system. It’s hard to imagine President Trump doing that.” 

Amy Ellen Schwartz, professor of economics and public administration and international affairs, says we need to have all of the "other stuff" such as school lunch, school buses, school facilities, and after school lined up to help make kids productive, successful people.