As flights across the United States ground to a halt Friday amid a rare nationwide stopover, President Donald Trump was in a meeting with actor Jon Voight to discuss reviving support for a federal movie incentive.
Voight and his team, Steven Paul and Scott Karol, were at the White House to urge the president to push for a movie incentive during the lame-duck Congressional session.
“It was exciting to watch,” said Karol Varietysaying the president was receiving updates on the flight situation as well as the capsized boat in New Orleans. “He takes care of different things because he’s president. He paid attention to us while taking care of two emergencies.”
Voight gave an impassioned speech in support of the Hollywood tax incentive bill, which would provide a 20 to 30 percent cut on domestic labor costs for films and television shows.
“He was telling (Trump) that he had a helpful heart and that he thought it could be done,” Paul said. Voight “was great. He was crying at the end of the meeting. It was an Oscar-winning speech.”
While Voight was still in the room, the president sent a message on Truth Social reaffirming his support for the federal incentive and urging Congress to pass it.
“Meetings are regularly held with leaders of both parties to DO THIS!” » Trump wrote. “This is a very bipartisan endeavor, especially since so much of the money lost to other countries comes from blue states. Hopefully, Republicans and Democrats will come together and finalize this already very actively negotiated legislation.”
He also noted that he was working with Senator Adam Schiff – “believe it or not.” Karol said the team met with Schiff earlier in the day, and Schiff told them to tell Trump, “This is Tim Scott’s bill and I’m here to help.” »
Schiff responded to Trump’s post on X, saying the bill shouldn’t wait until Democrats take over in January.
“President Trump and I agree: It is time for Congress to pass a federal film incentive,” Schiff wrote.
Rep. Laura Friedman, a Democratic co-sponsor, also responded, saying “there is no excuse to wait.”
“A national film and television incentive means jobs in California, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and every state in the country,” she wrote. “Let’s do it.”
Karol said the challenge is finding a legislative vehicle in which to include the incentive bill. He said that momentum hasn’t slowed since Republicans lost last week’s midterm elections.
“There’s good energy on both sides,” he said. “There’s no indication, one way or the other, that it’s not as important as it was before the election.”
Earlier Friday, Politico published an article saying that “Hollywood’s tax credit campaign hits a post-midterm wall.” The article quotes Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., as saying the chances were “pretty low” of passing a tax bill during the lame duck session.
Supporters of the push hope Trump’s message will encourage lawmakers to make it a priority. Voight served as Trump’s ambassador to Hollywood and met with the president several times to encourage his support of the tax credit. Those meetings bore fruit in August, when the president first approved the measure, leading to the bill’s introduction on a bipartisan basis in September.
Trump’s comment about inciting movies preceded any public statement about the nationwide ground stop. Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of Homeland Security, addressed the audience after the ground control call, telling the nation: “This is not another 9/11. This is a telecommunications outage.”
Read Trump’s Truth Social message below:
“I work with Senator Tim Scott and, believe it or not, Senator Adam Schiff and, in addition, Senators John Cornyn, Raphael Warnock, Steve Daines, Bernie Moreno, Tim Sheehy, Alex Padilla, Mark Warner, Thom Tillis, Chris Coons, Katie Britt and Dick Durbin, as well as Representatives Jason Smith, Nathaniel Moran, Brian Jack, Linda Sanchez and many others, Republicans and Democrats, on film, television and entertainment. The support and popularity for this project and the return of entertainment to the United States of America has been incredible! Hollywood, and so many other places, have been virtually “emptied” by the tax incentives and more provided by other countries. Everyone cares about the film and television industry – and so do I, and we all want to save it. The UK, Australia and other countries, but the actors, producers and everyone else involved wants to go home! Most importantly, hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers will be positively affected, GREATLY, by the passage of this bill. The amount of money spent on these tax incentives will be increased tenfold by the money going into the Treasury coffers. Meetings are regularly held with leaders of both parties to DO THIS! ”
Updated with remarks from Karol and Paul.
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