3 minPolitics
Pelosi, Omar join Trump and Schiff in push for federal film tax incentive
A bipartisan coalition including President Donald Trump, Sen. Adam Schiff, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ilhan Omar is backing a federal tax incentive plan to bring film production back to California and other U.S. states.
President Donald Trump has gained unlikely allies, including the Democrat who led his first impeachment trial, in a push to bring motion picture production back to California through a federal tax incentive plan. Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who represented studio-heavy Burbank in Congress, joined Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Nancy Pelosi of California in echoing support for the proposal.
Pelosi, speaking on Capitol grounds, said Democrats have long promoted the idea. «We’ve been promoting that for a long time. I’m glad he finally arrived at it,» she told Fox News Digital.
Schiff tweeted earlier this week that he is «in strong agreement with the president.» The Democrat, who has accused Trump of colluding with Moscow to win the election and whom the president has called «pencil-neck,» said it is time for Republicans and Democrats to «work together… get this done and bring the movie magic back to America.» He added that 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.»
Omar told Fox News Digital a similar refrain, noting she has worked separately to attract film projects to Minneapolis. She referenced «Fargo,» the 1996 Coen Brothers comedy starring William H. Macy, as an example of Minnesota’s ability to host large productions. The «Mighty Ducks» series starring Emilio Estevez and Joshua Jackson also filmed heavily in the Twin Cities during its 1990s run.
«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. She said the end of subsidies from St. Paul recently «made it less fun trying to run into people who were actually doing the production.» She added that a federal incentive «could be a really cool thing [and] also bring us money to states that can use it.»
Trump has appointed legendary actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as special envoys to Hollywood. Gibson previously told Fox News that for a recent film, it was cheaper to fly the entire crew to Europe for three days than to shoot for one day in Los Angeles. «There’s something really wrong there,» he said, adding that another actor, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, tried to assuage the problem while in office but was met with «obstacles.»
Last year, another Trump foil also got on board with the idea of Washington bolstering Hollywood. «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,» said California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
