'Tension' mounts as GOP tax writers privately 'hope they can ignore many of Trump’s ideas': report

17 February

While the Trump Administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are pushing massive cuts to the United States' federal workforce, Republicans in Congress are grappling with the specifics of a budgeting/spending package. But GOP lawmakers don't necessarily see eye to eye on what should be funded and what should be cut.

The New York Times' Andrew Duehren, in an article published on February 17, stresses that it's easy to propose tax cuts — but deciding where to reduce spending is the difficult part.

"Since their party swept to power," Duehren explains, "Republicans have entertained visions of an all-inclusive tax cut — one that could permanently lower rates for individuals, shower corporations with new incentives and deliver President Trump's sprawling suite of campaign promises. If only it were so easy."

The reporter adds, "House Republicans are preparing to adopt a budget plan that puts a $4.5 trillion upper limit on the size of the tax cut. Even such a huge sum is not nearly enough for all of their ideas, and so, lawmakers must now decide which policy commitments are essential and which ones they can live without."

Republicans in Congress, Duehren notes, "plan to use a byzantine legislative process called reconciliation" to pass a spending/budget bill without Democratic support. Republicans have small majorities in both branches of Congress.

"Because the cost of the tax cut needs to net out to $4.5 trillion," Duehren reports, "Republicans could try raising other taxes, like repealing clean energy subsidies, so they could accomplish more of Mr. Trump's promises. Privately, though, many Republican tax writers are hoping they can ignore many of Mr. Trump's ideas. Lawmakers are also considering extending elements of the expiring tax cuts for only a few more years to contain the recorded cost."

Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, addressed the complications involved in getting a spending bill/tax passed.

Michel told the Times, "That's the trade-off people are struggling with: How do you meet the political need to put these special preferences back in the tax code without abandoning the pro-growth messaging that Republicans are used to? There's a tension between these two, and threading that needle is going to be difficult."

Read the full New York Times article at this link (subscription required).

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