President Donald Trump’s push for a federal tax incentive to bring movie and television production back to the United States has picked up support from an unusual group of Democratic lawmakers, including some of his sharpest political critics.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who represented the studio hub of Burbank before moving to the Senate, said this week he is “in strong agreement with the president” on the proposal. Schiff, who led Trump’s first impeachment trial and has accused him of colluding with Moscow during the 2016 campaign, called on Congress to act quickly.
“Congress should immediately take up and pass a federal film tax incentive to bring back these good-paying jobs that we’ve lost to other countries,” Schiff said, adding that it’s time for both parties to “work together… get this done and bring the movie magic back to America.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill that Democrats have been pushing for something similar for years. “We’ve been promoting that for a long time. I’m glad he finally arrived at it,” she said.
Minnesota’s stake in the fight
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., also voiced support, pointing to her home state’s history hosting major productions, including the 1996 Coen Brothers film “Fargo” and the “Mighty Ducks” series, both shot largely in the Twin Cities during the 1990s.
Omar said she backed state subsidies for film production when she served in the Minnesota House. “When I was in the Minnesota House, I was very supportive of Minnesota having subsidies so we can have more movies being made inside Minnesota like the movie ‘Fargo,'” she said, adding that the loss of state subsidies from St. Paul “made it less fun trying to run into people who were actually doing the production.”
She said a federal incentive “could be a really cool thing” and could also bring money into states that need it.
Industry pressure builds
The bipartisan interest comes as production companies increasingly cite cost as a reason to film outside California. Actor Mel Gibson, whom Trump named a special envoy to Hollywood along with Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone, has said it was cheaper to fly an entire film crew to Europe for three days than to shoot for a single day in Los Angeles. “There’s something really wrong there,” Gibson said, adding that former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to address the issue while in office but ran into resistance.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another frequent Trump critic, endorsed the concept of a federal partnership last year, saying, “California built the film industry — and we’re ready to bring even more jobs home… Now it’s time for a real federal partnership to Make America Film Again.”
For a White House and a Congress often defined by gridlock, the alignment between Trump and some of his most persistent opponents over a jobs-focused tax measure marks a rare point of agreement.
