With Trump meeting today, Richard Neal of Mass. enters tax overhaul fray

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, center, talks with State Rep. Sean Garballey, D-Arlington, left, and State Rep. John D. Keennan, D-Salem, right, before a public hearing held by the legislative redistricting committee in Springfield, Mass., Saturday, March 26, 2011. The latest census figures were released, causing speculation that western Massachusetts could possibly get squeezed in redistricting because of the population losses. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) / OUTTAKe 0329 — Representative Richard Neal. –Jessica Hill / Associated Press

By

The Boston Globe

February 2, 2017

He’s known as the insider’s insider, a veteran relationship-builder on Capitol Hill, a quiet dealmaker.

Now the low-key, pragmatic Massachusetts lawmaker, Representative Richard Neal, is facing a challenge that could win him a new title: Miracle-worker.

By virtue of 30 years seniority in the House and the respect he has won among colleagues, the low-key Springfield congressman is the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee just as Republicans are readying a push for major tax cuts and a reform of the byzantine US tax code.

Read the complete story at BostonGlobe.com.

Don’t have a Globe subscription? Boston.com readers get a 2-week free trial.

TOPICS: Politics Boston Globe Local News Massachusetts Finance

Want to see what readers are saying about our stories?

Check out the conversations on Boston.com's Facebook Page

Tips? Corrections? Feedback? Email us at tips@boston.com

Close

Boston.com Download our app

Get it on Google Play

Boston, MA - 6/23/2017 - David Ortiz's number 34 is unveiled as it is retired during an on field pre-game ceremony at Fenway Park. - (Barry Chin/Globe Staff), Section: Sports, Reporter: Peter Abraham, Topic: 24Ortiz, LOID: 8.3.2878387600.

What Bostonians need to know this week June 25, 2017 | 6:59 PM

FILE- In this March 8, 2017, file photo, Maine Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a town hall meeting in Yarmouth, Maine. LePage is suing Democratic Attorney General Janet Mills for “abuse of power” for refusing to represent his administration’s position during a series of political disagreements reached the boiling point over the president’s immigration orders, the governor’s office announced Monday, May 1. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Maine Gov. Paul LePage signs food sovereignty bill into law June 25, 2017 | 2:52 PM

New Hampshire wildlife officials warn against lending a hand to Bambi June 25, 2017 | 2:50 PM

Possible effects of gerrymandering seen in uncontested races June 25, 2017 | 12:33 PM

In this June 21, 2017, photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Trump has a way of presenting missions as accomplished even when they’re not. So it was when he told Iowans he’s put farmers back at their plows, secured a historic increase in military spending and empowered homebuilders to swing their hammers again. Those all remain aspirations, not achievements. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, file)

Trump responds to Elizabeth Warren's claim 'people will die' due to GOP health care bill June 25, 2017 | 11:22 AM

Boston, MA - 6/19/2017 - Michael McCarthy (cq) confers with his defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro (cq).

The murder trial of McCarthy continues in Suffolk Superior Court. The former boyfriend of Rachelle Bond (cq) is charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, Bella Bond (cq), who for a while was known as Baby Doe.
POOL Photo by Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Topic: 20bond
Reporter: XXX

Jury deliberations in 'Baby Doe' murder trial nearing Day 5 June 25, 2017 | 11:22 AM

Protestors run a chain across one of the main access points for workers on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline project Tuesday, May 2, 2017, at the Otis State Forest in Sandisfield, Mass. The protestors did not leave their posts until State police officers and the Berkshire County Sheriff's Department gave them notice and arrested nine people. Stephanie Zollshan, The Berkshire Eagle via AP./The Berkshire Eagle via AP)

2017 Presidents Day Auto Sales

8 protesters arrested at Massachusetts gas pipeline project June 25, 2017 | 10:32 AM

Former college football star beginning Harvard med school residency June 25, 2017 | 10:22 AM

UK: 6 hurt as vehicle strikes people at Muslim prayer event June 25, 2017 | 9:33 AM

In this Tuesday, July 25, 2016 file photo released by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, a great white shark swims close to the Cape Cod shore in Chatham, Mass. Great white sharks are making their annual return to Cape Cod, rattling some boaters and beachgoers. Yet the chances of an attack resulting in serious injury or death are infinitesimally small.

Afraid of sharks? Flu, asteroids pose far greater risk June 25, 2017 | 7:46 AM

DA: Husband, wife tried to have victim in rape case killed June 24, 2017 | 3:46 PM

Woman sentenced for covering up for son in pedestrian fatal June 24, 2017 | 12:21 PM

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker speaking in April.

Baker announces revamp of state's primary website June 24, 2017 | 12:03 PM

In this Aug. 15, 1996, file photo, rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles

Writer sues Tupac filmmakers, alleges copyright infringement June 24, 2017 | 11:50 AM

MS-13 gang leader pleads guilty to drug, gun charges June 24, 2017 | 11:05 AM

Gov. Paul LePage pictured at a town hall meeting in Yarmouth, Maine.

Maine governor set on privately run psychiatric home June 24, 2017 | 10:23 AM

File - In this Monday, June 19, 2017 file photo, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner speaks at a White House meeting in Washington.

Jared Kushner was a Somerville landlord, and it wasn't always pretty June 24, 2017 | 9:00 AM

Police: Horses may have been locked in a N.H. barn for a year June 24, 2017 | 8:57 AM

Woman charged with stabbing boyfriend to death in home June 24, 2017 | 8:49 AM

Town settles with families of men in wrong burial plots June 24, 2017 | 8:38 AM

A total solar eclipse will sweep the width of the U.S. for the first time in 99 years June 24, 2017 | 8:05 AM

Busted: Police haul in 38 N.H. teens after breaking up party June 24, 2017 | 7:27 AM

More than 100 firefighters battle stubborn mill blaze June 24, 2017 | 5:58 AM

Some House Democrats mull over how to oust Nancy Pelosi June 24, 2017 | 2:44 AM

RI breast milk jeweler ordered to refund customers, return milk June 23, 2017 | 10:00 PM

Hyannis 06/17/2017: The ferry Iyanough was docked after being removed from a jetty where it grounded in Hyannis Harbor. Damage to the botton of the ferry is visable near the water line.
Photo by Debee Tlumacki for the Boston Globe (metro)

No drugs found in captain, pilot in Cape Cod ferry crash June 23, 2017 | 6:26 PM

Man acquitted of fatally punching Quincy father of 3 June 23, 2017 | 6:16 PM

Leominster, MA - 4/18/2017 - Angelo Colon-Ortiz listens to his attorney Edward Ryan, Jr.(L) speak during his arraignment in connection with the assault and murder of Vanessa Marcotte in Princeton last August at the Leominster District Court in Leominster, MA, April 18, 2017. (Keith Bedford/Globe Staff)

Grand jury indicts man in Vanessa Marcotte's killing June 23, 2017 | 5:40 PM

Prosecutors seek 35-year term in deadly meningitis outbreak June 23, 2017 | 4:50 PM

FILE - In this April 14, 2017, file pool photo, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez turns to look in the direction of the jury as he reacts to his double murder acquittal after the sixth day of jury deliberations at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. Massachusetts prosecutors on Friday, June 23, 2017, appealed a court ruling that erased the former NFL star's murder conviction in the 2013 killing of a semi-professional football player. Hernandez's conviction inwas voided after he killed himself in prison. Under a long-held Massachusetts legal principle, courts typically erase the convictions of defendants who die before their direct appeals can be heard. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, Pool, File)

Prosecutors appeal Aaron Hernandez's voided murder conviction June 23, 2017 | 4:44 PM