Republicans will work on advancing tax reform when the Senate returns next week and will also clear a major disaster relief bill for President Trump’s signature.
Republican leaders plan to take up a 2018 budget resolution next week that will serve as the legislative vehicle for comprehensive tax reform, a measure that has not been written yet.
The Senate’s budget blueprint allows for a tax cut of up to $1.5 trillion over 10 years, a number that represents a compromise between Republicans who wanted far deeper tax cuts and GOP deficit hawks who fear the loss of tax revenue will leave the nation deeper in debt.
The resolution calls for reducing federal spending by $5.1 trillion and it sticks to federally mandated, though unpopular, spending caps. The resolution projects $1 billion in deficit reduction by selling leases for oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The measure passed the Senate Budget Committee earlier this month.
Panel Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said the proposal “reflects the belief that many of us share that by allowing American families and small businesses to keep more of their hard-earned dollars, they will innovate and invest that money in ways that will grow our economy.”
But Senate Republicans are having a more difficult time finding consensus on tax reform. With just a two-seat majority, Senate Republicans have very little room for dissent within their own party, and the uncertainty is mounting.
Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., have all hinted different reasons why they may not be on board with the plan.
The House and Senate will have to reconcile their budget plans in the coming weeks, as there are major differences. The House bill ignores mandatory budget caps, for example, and boosts the defense budget while curbing entitlement spending, which has little chance of surviving in the Senate.
The Senate must also take up a House-passed bill to provide $36.5 billion in federal disaster aid for states and territories damaged by hurricanes and wildfires.
The legislation bolsters the Federal Emergency Management Agency as well as the insolvent National Flood Insurance Program. It also provides a nearly $5 billion loan to Puerto Rico that lawmakers acknowledged the island will probably never repay.
The bill excludes requests for more than $40 billion in additional federal aid sought by Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and other lawmakers in Texas and Florida, where two hurricanes caused hundreds of billions of dollars in wind and flood damage.
Senate lawmakers will begin the work week with a vote to confirm Calista Gingrich to serve as President Trump’s ambassador to the Vatican.
Her husband, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (1995-1999), is an informal Trump adviser.
