Extending tax cuts tops the GOP’s agenda for first 100 days — ‘Americans don’t care if Elon Musk is rich’

An extremity to the COVID-19-era government subsidies that immoderate Americans person utilized to acquisition wellness insurance.

Limits to nutrient stamps, including for women and children, and different information nett programs. Rollbacks to Biden-era green vigor programs. Mass deportations. Government occupation cuts to “drain the swamp.”

Having won the predetermination and sweeping to power, Republicans are readying an ambitious 100-day agenda with President-elect Donald Trump in the White House and GOP lawmakers successful a legislature bulk to execute their argumentation goals.

Atop the database is the program to renew immoderate $4 trillion successful expiring GOP taxation cuts, a signature home accomplishment of Trump’s archetypal word and an contented that whitethorn specify his instrumentality to the White House.

“What we’re focused connected close present is being ready, Day 1,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., aft gathering precocious with GOP colleagues to representation retired the roadworthy ahead.

The policies emerging volition revive long-running debates astir America’s priorities, its gaping income inequities and the proper size and scope of its government, particularly successful the look of mounting national deficits present approaching $2 trillion a year.

The discussions volition trial whether Trump and his Republican allies tin execute the kinds of real-world outcomes wanted, needed oregon supported erstwhile voters gave the party control of Congress and the White House.

“The past is truly prologue here,” said Lindsay Owens, enforcement manager of the Groundwork Collaborative, recalling the 2017 taxation debate.

Trump’s archetypal word became defined by those taxation cuts, which were approved by Republicans successful Congress and signed into instrumentality lone aft their archetypal run committedness to “repeal and replace” Democratic President Barack Obama’s wellness attraction instrumentality sputtered, failing with the celebrated thumbs-down ballot by then-Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

The GOP bulk successful Congress rapidly pivoted to taxation cuts, assembling and approving the multitrillion-dollar bundle by year’s end.

In the clip since Trump signed those cuts into law, the large benefits person accrued to higher-income households. The apical 1 percent — those making astir $1 cardinal and supra — received astir a $60,000 income taxation cut, portion those with little incomes got arsenic small arsenic a fewer 100 dollars, according to the Tax Policy Center and different groups. Some radical ended up paying astir the same.

“The large economical communicative successful the U.S. is soaring income equality,” said Owens. “And that is actually, interestingly, a taxation story.”

In mentation for Trump’s return, Republicans successful Congress person been gathering privately for months and with the president-elect to spell implicit proposals to widen and heighten those taxation breaks, immoderate of which would different expire successful 2025.

That means keeping successful spot assorted taxation brackets and a standardized deduction for idiosyncratic earners, on with the existing rates for alleged pass-through entities specified arsenic instrumentality firms, doctors’ offices oregon businesses that instrumentality their net arsenic idiosyncratic income.

Typically, the terms tag for the taxation cuts would beryllium prohibitive. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that keeping the expiring provisions successful spot would adhd immoderate $4 trillion to deficits implicit a decade.

Adding to that, Trump wants to include his ain priorities in the taxation package, including lowering the firm rate, present astatine 21% from the 2017 law, to 15%, and doing distant with idiosyncratic taxes connected tips and overtime pay.

But Avik Roy, president of the Foundation for Research connected Equal Opportunity, said blaming the taxation cuts for the nation’s income inequality is “just nonsense” due to the fact that taxation filers up and down the income ladder benefited. He alternatively points to different factors, including the Federal Reserve’s historically debased involvement rates that alteration borrowing, including for the wealthy, connected the cheap.

“Americans don’t attraction if Elon Musk is rich,” Roy said. “What they attraction astir is, what are you doing to marque their lives better?”

Typically, lawmakers privation the outgo of a argumentation alteration to beryllium offset by fund gross oregon reductions elsewhere. But successful this case, there’s astir nary agreed-upon gross raisers oregon spending cuts successful the yearly $6 trillion fund that could screen specified a whopping terms tag.

Instead, immoderate Republicans person argued that the taxation breaks volition wage for themselves, with the trickle-down gross from imaginable economical growth. Trump’s tariffs floated this past week could supply different root of offsetting revenue.

Some Republicans reason there’s precedent for simply extending the taxation cuts without offsetting the costs due to the fact that they are not caller changes but existing national policy.

“If you’re conscionable extending existent law, we’re not raising taxes oregon lowering taxes,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the incoming president of the Senate Finance Committee, connected Fox News.

He said the disapproval that taxation cuts would adhd to the shortage is “ridiculous.” There is simply a quality betwixt taxes and spending, helium said, “and we conscionable person to get that connection retired to America.”

At the aforesaid time, the caller Congress volition besides beryllium considering spending reductions, peculiarly to nutrient stamps and wellness attraction programs, goals agelong sought by conservatives arsenic portion of the yearly appropriations process.

One chopped is astir definite to autumn connected the COVID-19-era subsidy that helps defray the outgo of wellness security for radical who bargain their ain policies via the Affordable Care Act exchange.

The other wellness attraction subsidies were extended done 2025 successful Democratic President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which besides includes assorted greenish vigor taxation breaks that Republicans privation to rotation back.

The House Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, scoffed astatine the Republican assertion that they’ve won “some big, monolithic mandate” — erstwhile successful fact, the House Democrats and Republicans fundamentally fought to a gully successful the November election, with the GOP eking retired a constrictive majority.

“This conception astir immoderate mandate to marque massive, far-right utmost argumentation changes, it doesn’t beryllium — it doesn’t exist,” Jeffries said.

Republicans are readying to usage a budgetary process, called reconciliation, that allows bulk transition successful Congress, fundamentally on enactment lines, without the menace of a filibuster successful the Senate that tin stall retired a bill’s beforehand unless 60 of the 100 senators agree.

It’s the aforesaid process Democrats person utilized erstwhile they had the powerfulness successful Washington to o.k. the Inflation Reduction Act and Obama’s wellness attraction instrumentality implicit GOP objections.

Republicans person been present earlier with Trump and power of Congress, which is nary warrant they volition beryllium capable to execute their goals, peculiarly successful the look of absorption from Democrats.

Still, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who has been moving intimately with Trump connected the agenda, has promised a “breakneck” gait successful the archetypal 100 days “because we person a batch to fix.”