The House intends to delay a vote on legislation to make the individual tax cuts permanent until the summer to pressure Democrats closer to the midterm elections, according to Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, the Washington Examiner reported on Monday.
The original intention of Republicans was to use next week's tax filing deadline as a showcase for the bill.
But Norquist said the GOP leadership has told him that the legislation will be on the agenda by summertime, as well as a bill requiring states to recognize conceal carry firearm permits from anywhere in the country
"A big vote on taxes and the Second Amendment, just as people are headed into the election, is the way to go," Norquist told the Examiner.
Democrats have dismissed the Republican plan as one of desperation, with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin telling Politico "it's a one-trick pony. It's the tax pony, and that's the only horse they have to ride."
When the GOP passed the tax reform bill in December, it gave the individual cuts an expiration date to lower the cost of the bill to prevent running afoul of special Senate rules that allowed the GOP to circumvent a filibuster by the Democrats, according to the Examiner.
Democrats have used the expiration date, which does not apply to the lower corporate tax rate, as a way to criticize the measure as favoring the wealthy.
But by bringing the measure to a vote, Republicans hope to put Democrats on the record about the tax legislation close to the elections.
"We're giving our friends on the other side of the aisle a chance to support permanent tax relief for working Americans," said Illinois GOP Rep. Rodney Davis when he introduced the legislation.
However, CNBC reported that Republicans are also worried that the plan could backfire, as the Congressional Budget Office recently projected that the national debt will nearly equal the country's entire economic output by 2028.
In addition, a Penn-Wharton Budget report estimated that extending the individual tax cuts would add between $573 billion and $736 billion to the national debt.
Norquist, however, denied to the Examiner that this was the reason for the delay in the legislation.