Congressional Republicans think they might have an ace in the hole to throw at Democrats and buoy their chances for November's midterms — make permanent the individual tax cuts, Politico reports.
Either it passes and Republicans can tout a victory with tax cuts 2.0 or it fails due to lack of Democratic support, a weapon the GOP can wield in its fight to keep majorities in both chambers in the fall, Politico reports.
Part of Democrats' argument for voting against the tax cuts in December was because they weren't permanent for individuals as they are for corporations, a tack that Republicans would expose early and often on tax cuts 2.0.
"We're going to give [Democrats] an opportunity to make [the tax cuts] permanent," House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady told Politico. "And that will really reveal: Was it just an excuse to not give people back more of what they earned?"
Such a move could put vulnerable Senate Democrats in a tough spot in states that President Donald Trump won by at least 10 points.
But it also could backfire on Republicans in the Senate, where they own just a one-seat majority and it's likely more than one fiscal conservative — Sen. Bob Corker already saying "hell no" — would vote against it, Politico reports.
Regardless, Democrats have their own take on the fledgling Republican strategy — desperation.
"It's a one-trick pony," Politico quoted Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin. "It's the tax pony, and that's the only horse they have to ride."
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