Former Honeywell chairman and CEO Larry Bossidy was handing out grades on Wednesday for how President Donald Trump, his Cabinet, and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are doing.
Bossidy, a Republican supporter, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" he gives Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan a "B minus" and Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a "C."
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a billionaire who made his fortune investing in distressed assets, is "the MVP of the administration, what he's done on trade," he said. "I give him an A plus."
Bossidy was also asked about the odds of getting both an Obamacare repeal and tax reform before the end of the year. He gave an optimistic 6 in 10 chance.
Tax reform has been put second on the GOP agenda, behind the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.
"When you look at the tax policies, I'm still enthused about what Trump is trying to do in terms of tax reform and the Affordable Care Act revisions," the former Honeywell CEO said.
Reducing the tax burden on American companies has been a bipartisan issue. But it's been stuck over how to pay for it.
Trump and the Republicans who control Capitol Hill are pushing corporate tax reform and individual tax cuts.
Two controversial proposals on how to pay for reducing corporate tax rates — eliminating the corporate interest deduction and installing a border adjustment tax on imports — could raise a trillion dollars each over 10 years.
"My guess is at the end of the day there will be a small BAT that will go in. It will go in on a phased basis. They'll be an interest deduction cap because you've got to do something to raise" the money to help pay for the package, Bossidy said.
U.S. corporate taxes need to be reduced to encourage more companies to invest in their businesses, Bossidy said.
"It seems to me that capital spending has been relatively weak through the recovery. One of the reasons is because of the noncompetitive U.S. tax rate in corporations," he said.
"If that were to change, I think it would give an impetus to more capital spending," he continued. "If it weren't to happen, I think it's going to hurt the market in general but it's also going to hurt the economy."