WASHINGTON — Chuck Grassley says negotiations continue among GOP senators on the massive budget package containing President Trump’s second-term agenda.
Grassley says they’ve had discussions on the bill every week for the last four months and now it’s time for Senate Republicans to start putting things together. “I think what we end up putting together will be similar to what passed the House of Representatives, but it won’t be exactly the same, but we’ve always got to be considering as Senators that whatever we change it has to go back to the House. We have to remember that the House passed it just by a one-vote margin, so it’s got to pass the House again, so that’s got to be part of our consideration.”
Grassley says despite the concerns that the bill would raise the deficit and cause jitters in the US bond market, he believes the 2017 tax bill has to be reauthorized. “I think if we don’t pass the bill and extend the 2017 tax bill beyond December 31st, it’s going to make the economy worse off than any specific changes we might make in the 2017 tax bill.”
Republicans can only afford three no votes from their side of the aisle if all Democrats vote to block its passage in the Senate and there are no absences. Similar to the House, there are Republicans in the Senate who think there’s not enough cost cutting, while others argue some provisions are too draconian.
