Senate Republicans on Wednesday were still trying to figure out how to include a debt trigger mechanism to their tax reform bill, even as opposition to the idea was growing and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was moving toward setting up the first procedural vote on the bill.
The Senate Finance Committee was due to offer a proposal to senators Wednesday afternoon that would automatically scale down the planned tax cuts if the federal debt rose faster than expected, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said.
“The trigger is very important to me,” Corker said when asked if he could support the tax cut bill without it.
“I think we’re moving toward a final solution,” said Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Finance Committee, as he left lunch with his colleagues.
John Thune, the number three Republican in the Senate, suggested that Wednesday’s planned vote on the motion to proceed on the tax bill was being slightly delayed in order to make sure that the trigger provision did not run afoul of the special rules governing the bill, which is proceeding under the budget reconciliation process that Republicans are using in order to avoid a Democratic filibuster.
GOP leaders still planned for a vote Wednesday afternoon. But as Wednesday wore on, the idea took on more criticism from House conservatives and outside groups.
“Any senator who understands basic business principles and truly cares about the deficit should understand that this trigger is an automatic tax increase and will actually harm economic growth, said David McIntosh, head of the fiscally conservative group Club for Growth. “It will have harmful impacts on American businesses and undermine any economic growth potential in this tax reform bill because businesses will not invest due to the possibility of a higher tax rate.”
Some GOP senators who didn’t like the idea but were willing to go along with it argued Wednesday that the language should also be written to also allow for further tax cuts if the bill results in more revenues than projected.
“If you’re going to have a triggering mechanism I think at the federal level, you’ve got to have the balance that it goes in both directions,” North Carolina’s Thom Tillis said Wednesday morning.
“I would hope that members who are hoping that they can get a trigger in there would still be willing to support the bill and continue to have the debate the discussion before we get the final product out of conference,” Tillis added, noting that he supports the bill.
