Early Saturday morning, the US Senate passed a Republican budget plan that wants to keep President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts in place and, more so, reduce government spending.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said, “Tonight, the Senate took one small step toward reconciliation and one giant leap toward making the tax cuts permanent, securing the border, providing much-needed help for the military, and finally cutting wasteful Washington spending.”
The 52–48 vote, which came after a late-night session of Congress, opened the door to a strategy called “budget reconciliation.” This will let Republicans get around the Senate’s “filibuster,” a rule that requires 60 votes for most bills, and pass Trump’s tax, border security, and military priorities later this year without any Democratic votes.
This means that Trump will have his way most of the time. However, not all Republicans supported the bill. Two Republicans – Senators Susan Collins and Rand Paul – joined Democrats in opposing the measure.
Analysts say that the strategy will cause a backlash. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said after the vote, “Donald Trump has betrayed the American people. Tonight, Senate Republicans joined him in that betrayal. In voting for this bill, Senate Republicans sided with billionaires against the middle class, in total obeisance to Donald Trump.”
Democrats have said that Republican goals could hurt Medicaid, which helps low-income Americans get health care.
In fact, Republicans also turned down dozens of Democratic amendments that would have protected Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps for low-income women and children, the Social Security retirement system, veterans’ benefits, and other types of government help.
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However, Senate Republicans changed the plan to add a deficit-neutral reserve fund to help protect Medicaid and the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly during a six-hour “vote-a-rama” session to discuss amendments.
For instance, Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski, Josh Hawley, and Collins backed Democratic measures to protect social safety-net programs, but their support was not enough.
The measure aims to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling by $5 trillion. Congress needs to do this by the summer, or the government could default on its $36.6 trillion in debt. By cutting spending, it hopes to partially make up for the fact that tax cuts will make the debt bigger.
Analysts who have no connection with either party hold a different stance. They assert that if Trump’s plans were carried out, they would add about $5.7 trillion to the federal government’s debt over the next ten years.
Republican senators in the Senate say the cost is $1.5 trillion, but they don’t want to include the effects of extending tax policies that were set to end at the end of this year. This, too, is not clear enough for Americans.
Republicans still insist that letting the 2017 tax cuts end would be very bad for Americans because it would mean a 22% tax hike for most people. The cuts, which were Trump’s most important legislative success in his first term, lowered the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. This will stay in place indefinitely.
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The rest of the cuts for regular Americans were set to end. This was done to limit the bill’s effects on increasing the debt.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s vote sent the bill to the House of Representatives, which is run by Republicans and is likely to take it up next week.
Republicans say economic instability could make it harder for Trump
Before the debate started late Thursday night, the stock market took a huge drop because of Trump’s new trade tariffs. Analysts say it will make prices go up and could even cause a recession.
In addition, some Republicans said that economic instability could make it harder for Trump to get his plans done if market weakness continues.
Representative Thom Tillis told reporters, “My concern is, if we are having the kind of conversation today three weeks from now, then the distraction will be so great that it will slow down what we try to do.”
If House Republicans get their way, Congress could cut spending by $2 trillion by changing how Medicaid and food stamps work and getting rid of popular environmental laws.
Along with greater security along the US border with Mexico, the budget plan would also pay for the administration’s efforts to greatly increase the number of immigrants deported and make the US military more ready for battle.
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