Senate Bill Hits Obstacle Over Deficit Concern 'It doesn’t look like the trigger’s going to work,’ Sen. John Cornyn says'
Thursday’s late-day drama came after a critical report from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and guidance from the Senate’s parliamentarian.
The JCT analysis said the Senate plan wouldn’t meet the party’s goal of paying for itself through stronger economic growth, fueling the concerns of the deficit hawks.
The bill would generate $458 billion in revenue from economic growth and add an extra $51 billion over a decade in interest payments, leaving the net cost of the bill at about $1 trillion over a decade, the JCT analysis found. The report left GOP leaders scrambling to lasso the 50 votes they need to pass the measure as they tried to come up with a way to placate senators concerned about budget deficits. Republicans have 52 seats in the chamber. Their first attempt to placate the deficit hawks fell short due to procedural challenges.
They had wanted to implement a so-called trigger, which would set tax increases to kick in if projected growth didn’t materialize. But that ran afoul of the parliamentarian, and Sens. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) and Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) stalled a procedural vote as Republicans huddled on the Senate floor to come up with an alternative.
Mr. Corker “latched onto” that JCT report, said Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), explaining how progress slowed late Thursday.
Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) is surrounded by reporters as he steps off the Senate floor for a few moments during votes at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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