It’s a huge day for Senate Republicans’ sprint to pass President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
The Senate Finance Committee is likely to release its legislative text for the reconciliation bill in two parts. The first portion could come today, and if so, the second would come Monday.
Finance has responsibility for two separate sections of the bill: the tax package and health care provisions, which consist mainly of Medicaid spending cuts.
Finance Republicans are holding a member call at noon to talk through their plans.
This all comes after Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) met with Trump at the White House on Thursday afternoon to talk about the health and tax sections.
The release of the Finance Committee’s text over the coming days is critical if Republicans want to meet their goal of sending a bill to Trump’s desk by July 4 — or at least get it through the Senate. But all the knotty details aren’t settled yet.
SALT stalemate: Finance Republicans are expected to punt on the biggest tax hangup in the bill — for now. They’ll likely put a much lower cap on deducting state and local taxes than what the House passed in their initial text, in line with Senate Republicans’ preferences.
That would be intended as a placeholder of sorts as negotiations continue.
The House GOP leadership and the White House are pressuring Senate Republicans to keep the SALT deal that passed the House intact. But GOP senators are dug in against the bill’s $40,000 deduction limit for taxpayers earning up to $500,000.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who’s facilitating negotiations with the SALT caucus, said they’re “very aware” of the Senate’s feelings on state-and-local tax deductions. Here’s what Mullin said when asked whether he takes the SALT caucus’ threats to tank the bill seriously:
“I take them very seriously that they want to negotiate on this thing, and we’re going to…
“They’re going to fight as hard as they can for their position. And they should. And we will too. We’re going to come to a happy place at the end of it.”
Trump, Senate priorities: The Senate Finance Committee is expected to get close to the House-passed bill’s number on Trump’s tax priorities. That comes after heavy pressure from the White House to avoid scaling back.
Still, Senate Republicans will put their own spin on these provisions, which include no tax on tips, no tax on overtime pay and tax cuts for seniors. A number of the tax cuts will likely look different from the House’s version.
But Senate Finance Republicans will also get their own win: making key business provisions permanent. This includes tax breaks for R&D spending, interest expenses and purchases of machinery and equipment. The House bill revived the tax breaks for five years.
The Trump administration preferred the House timeline, believing a shorter-term extension would drive faster economic investment. But it’s not clear that it could get the votes in the Senate. So the White House is on board with permanency.
