Senate tussles over filibuster, tax cuts in Trump's legislative agenda
June 2 (UPI) -- Senate Republicans seek to make President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent while Democrats push for a ruling from the Senate Parliamentarian as the chamber weigh's Trump's legislative agenda bill.
The Senate returned Monday to Capitol Hill after its Memorial Day recess with the sweeping agenda bill as its top priority. As it mulls changes to the bill, Republicans hope to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act without an end date while not counting its financial impact toward the national debt.
To stop the Republican plan from coming to fruition, Democrats want the Parliamentarian of the United States, a nonpartisan body that interprets the rules of the Senate's process, to weigh in.
Democrats argued that extending the 2017 tax cuts permanently would violate the Senate's Byrd Rule, a rule that limits what can be considered in a budget reconciliation bill. This is significant because a budget reconciliation bill can be passed with a simple majority, or 51 votes, rather than the 60-vote threshold which is subject to filibuster rules.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate.
The Byrd Rule prohibits any provisions deemed extraneous from being included in a budget reconciliation bill. Among the characteristics that meet the criteria of an "extraneous" provision is a provision that increases the federal deficit beyond the budget window, which is typically 10 years.
Democrats say a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts would do just that.
Democrats also say going around the Parliamentarian would undermine the Senate's filibuster rules, alleging that Republicans already did this when they voted to overturn California's electric vehicle mandate in May.
Senate Republicans invoked the Congressional Review Act to overturn the electric vehicle mandate without going through the Parliamentarian.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., called on a series of votes to clarify whether the mandate was a rule that was being violated and thus able to be overturned under the Congressional Review Act.
Senate Republicans have set a goal to pass the legislative agenda bill by July 4. The 1,116-page bill passed the House before the break and needs Senate approval to advance to the president's desk.
Some Republicans also have expressed their support for making changes to Trump's legislative agenda bill. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has shared concerns about how it will add to the national debt if it is passed as is.
"If I vote for the $5 trillion debt, who's left in Washington that cares about the debt?" Paul said in an interview on CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday. "The GOP will own the debt once they vote for this."
Paul opposes a provision in the bill that would raise the debt ceiling.
Changes to Medicaid are also a source of concern for some Republican Senators.
"I've said that if there are deep cuts in Medicaid that would endanger healthcare for low-income families, for disabled children, for other vulnerable populations, and for our rural hospitals, I'm simply not going to support that," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said last week when meeting with constituents in Clinton, Maine, according to Maine Public Radio.
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