The result was a two-page “statement of principles,” released in July. It contained one big decision -- ruling out a controversial border-adjusted tax that House Speaker Paul Ryan had championed -- but left other crucial questions unanswered.

Trump administration officials had promised a unified tax plan by early September -- catching GOP congressional leaders by surprise, and leaving members confused and irritated, said three people familiar with the situation. The White House has since abandoned that promise; it said last week that details will be up to the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate.

Those panels must decide how to raise trillions in revenue to pay for the massive tax cuts the White House has promised, and which deductions and loopholes to eliminate. It’s possible that two different plans could result, with neither gaining the White House’s full support.

“There’s no indication that either the White House or congressional leaders learned anything from their repeal and replace debacle,” said Stan Collender, a former budget aide for congressional Democrats.

‘Internal Debate’

Even the time frame for drafting a bill isn’t clear. National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday that the Ways and Means Committee would write the tax legislation "in the next three or four weeks." Schillinger declined to confirm that, saying only that the panel is working toward achieving a tax overhaul in 2017.

After lawmakers return from a recess next week, they must focus first on must-pass bills to keep the federal government open and avert a default on U.S. debt -- most likely pushing serious consideration of tax legislation to October. Republicans remain divided on the parameters of a budget measure that’s necessary to kick off tax legislation.

Meanwhile, Trump will spend the next several weeks campaigning for tax legislation, the White House said. His first stop is Springfield, Missouri, on Wednesday, said an official who asked not to be identified because the details were still under review. Trump posted a message on Twitter Sunday saying he was heading to Missouri and that Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, is “opposed to big tax cuts.”

Republicans had hoped to fill the month of August with similar messaging, but Trump’s comments about white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and pointed attacks on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others overshadowed that plan.

There’s still no indication that the most essential question for a tax bill -- whether its changes would be temporary or permanent -- has been settled. “There’s some internal debate about that that we’ll have to sort out among ourselves,” McConnell said Aug. 21.