U.S. Senators have voted to begin debate on the chamber’s amendment to the House budget resolution, bringing Republicans one step closer to fulfilling President Donald Trump’s tax, border, energy, and defense agenda.
The 52 to 48 procedural vote Thursday night on the Senate’s concurrent resolution showed stark partisan divide, with Democrats blasting the bill as fiscally irresponsible and Republican leaders calling it a win for taxpayers.
Unlike the House’s original budget resolution, which had priced a 10-year extension of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts at $3.8 trillion, the Senate’s budget framework assumes the extension will cost nothing, as The Center Square reported.
By adopting a current policy baseline, which treats renewing the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as a continuation of current law rather than new policy, Senate Republicans drastically reduced the amount of spending cuts they’d need to make in order to offset the plan.
The bill also authorizes an extra $1.5 trillion in spending to enact some of Trump’s other tax goals, such as eliminating taxes on Social Security and tips.
While outside fiscal organizations like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget say the actual cost of the Senate’s resolution hovers around $5.8 trillion, Senate Leader John Thune, R-S.D., denounced warnings as “hysteria” from Democrats.
“Using the current policy baseline is not some bizarre new gimmick,” Thune told lawmakers Thursday. “No matter how many times Democrats attempt to distort or outright lie about what we’re trying to do here, Republicans intend to deliver a permanent extension of the tax relief that we passed in 2017.”
If the Trump tax cuts expire, the average taxpayer will see a 22% tax hike as well as their guaranteed deduction slashed in half. The child tax credit would also reduce from $2,000 per child to $1,000 per child, The Center Square reported.
The Senate will hold debate over the bill throughout Friday and potentially into Saturday as lawmakers will introduce amendments before voting on final passage. If passed, the House will take up the concurrent resolution for a vote next week.
