The Republican's tax overhaul package could lead to as much as $150 billion per year being cut from federal programs such as farm subsidies, student loans, and support for crime victims, according to Politico.
Lawmakers and advocacy groups have focused on the legislation itself, not on the cuts that would happen unless a bipartisan deal is reached to address them, Politico reported.
Republican leaders are confident they can make a deal to waive the federally mandated cuts, but Democrats are not promising they will bail out the Republicans, which increases the risk of programs being cut, the website reported.
"This would be unprecedented… the law never envisioned that we'd eliminate programs," said William Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The potential cuts are because of a decades-old law that requires that costs of legislation be offset or face spending cuts that would be painful to both Republicans and Democrats, Politico said.
The result would be smaller federal programs getting cuts that could zero out their budgets, with the largest cut coming from health and domestic programs such as the Social Services Block Grant and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which would face cuts of $715 million, Politico's report said.
Twenty billion dollars in federal funding for farmers would be up for cuts, the report said. "Basically, Mr. Perdue would only have the food stamp program to work with," Hoagland said, referring to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.
Privately, Washington veterans said that Democrats would not allow the spending cuts.
"At the end of the day, we — Republicans and Democrats — have to go home and face our constituents. I wouldn't want to go home and face my constituents if I'd cut Medicare," said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., in the Politico report.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) on Thursday said it opposed the Senate tax proposal, because the bill would trigger $25 billion in cuts to Medicare.
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