The tax portion of Republicans’ wide-ranging bill full of President Donald J. Trump’s domestic priorities would cost $3.7 trillion over the next decade, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) just released. That fits within the parameters laid out in the budget blueprint Congress adopted earlier this year, which allowed the House Ways and Means Committee up to $4.5 trillion for changes that could increase the deficit. Tables from the JCT, which is the official revenue scoring body of Congress, show that extensions of the 2017 tax cuts and other measures will add about $5 trillion to the deficit, while cuts to renewable energy incentives and amped international tax enforcement will reduce the deficit by about $2 trillion. The JCT score does not provide an estimate for the restriction of Medicaid coverage proposed by Ways and Means Republicans but says the estimate will be provided by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The score released Tuesday is relative to the CBO’s January current law baseline and was announced as the Energy and Commerce Committee will begin marking up its portion of the GOP megabill at 2 P.M, Ways and Means will begin marking up its portion of the GOP megabill at 2:30 P.M, and the House Agriculture Committee will begin marking up its portion of the GOP megabill at 7:30 P.M.
The House Ways and Means Committee on Monday released a fuller version of its part of Republicans’ bill full of President Trump’s legislative priorities, kicking off what is expected to be a showdown over the tax provisions in the sprawling measure. The 389-page measure, (section-by-section) increases the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap from $10,000 to $30,000 for single and joint filers, which would phase down as income grows, a figure much lower than the proposal floated by Republicans from high tax states. The bill also includes several tax-related promises President Trump made on the campaign trail, including getting rid of taxes on tips and overtime — provisions set to expire at the end of 2028. The bill also proposes exempting car loan interest payments on only American made cars through 2028, with several exceptions. The bill makes the 2017 income tax rate reductions permanent, a priority for many Republicans. The 2017 tax law specifies marginal tax rates of 10 percent, 12 percent, 22 percent, 24 percent, 32 percent, 35 percent and 37 percent. Among other provisions, the bill increases the pass-through deduction to 23 percent from 20 percent. Pass-throughs are businesses designated as partnerships, sole proprietorships, LLCs and S-corporations that pass their tax liability on directly to their owners. The vast majority of U.S. businesses fall into this general category. The Ways and Means text also increases the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, which could be a point of contention if the package actually reaches the Senate as it is. The budget resolution laid out a $5 trillion debt limit increase for the upper chamber. The bill’s release and three markups come as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is looking to keep the conference on his ambitious timeline of approving the entire package by next Friday, prior to the Memorial Day recess. Despite the lingering disagreements, Speaker Johnson remains confident in interviews that the conference would remain “on track.”
For today, the Senate reconvened at 10:00 A.M. and is expected to consider Confirmation of Executive Calendar #69 Reed Rubinstein, of Maryland, to be Legal Adviser of the Department of State, Confirmation of Executive Calendar #71 Troy Meink, of Virginia, to be Secretary of the Air Force and a Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #83 James Danly, of Tennessee, to be Deputy Secretary of Energy.
The House is in session and will take up sixteen bills under suspension of the Rules at 6:30 P.M from various committees.
