House and Senate Republicans recently proposed their versions of the 2018 budget, offering dueling versions. The budget proposed by the House does not allow deepening of the deficit, whereas the version the Senate proposed may increase the budget deficit by another 1.5 trillion dollars in the course of the next 10 years.
However, both versions share a common element – the ability to pass a tax reform in the Senate by a majority vote, by not requiring Democratic support. The two chambers will attempt to pass their contrasting budget resolutions in the next few weeks and try to reach a compromise afterwards.
Representative Steve Womack, who is rumored to be in line as the next Budget Committee chairman, says tax reform will be the “ultimate test for leadership,” riddled with policy differences that will challenge lawmakers to consider the legislative long game. That starts with fundamental disagreements over the content of the differing budgets that would jump start the tax debate by giving a green light to the separate reconciliation process.
“There will be a myriad of reasons why people will have certain issues that they want to bring forward. To some, it will be the cuts on the mandatory side that were advanced by our ‘18 budget resolution. To others, it will be the potential adding to the deficit and the potential consequences for long-term debt,” Womack told Politico.
The tax debate will raise a number of questions dealing with the budgets’ contents, such as budget cuts or the possible deepening of the deficit. The House proposes a considerable number of expenditure cuts, but they might be forced to give up some of their demands in the upcoming budget negotiations. Republican Mark Sanford said they are under considerable pressure to draw up their tax reform and the budget is just a means toward achieving this goal.
Representatives of the Senate are having an even more difficult time passing a budget resolution, as Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the Senate says. He is allowed to lose only a small number of votes, so he suggests that the final budget resolution “will be whatever the Senate can pass,” Politico reports.
The only way to come to a mutual tax reform, says Senator John Neely Kennedy, is not to force certain demands to be met, but to remain flexible. That is why the Senate needs to accept some of the House’s proposals and not aim for a compromise regarding every provision.
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