WASHINGTON: Republicans geared up Tuesday for a series of crucial votes on Donald Trump\u2019s domestic policy mega-bill, with rows over spending threatening to unravel the US president\u2019s plans for sweeping tax cuts.
\nThree key House committees are slated to finalize and vote on their portions of Trump\u2019s much-touted \u201cbig, beautiful\u201d bill, led by a roughly $5 trillion extension of his 2017 tax relief.
\nRepublicans are weighing partially covering the cost with deep cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program that benefits more than 70 million low-income people.
\nBefore it can get to Trump\u2019s desk, the package must survive votes of the full House and Senate, where Republicans have razor-thin controlling margins.
\n\u201cThe bill delivers what Americans voted for \u2014 tax policies that put working families first \u2014 and kick-starts a new golden era of American prosperity and strength,\u201d said Jason Smith, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which is charged with drafting the tax proposals.
\nThe marathon committee debates are expected to continue into the night and even spill into daytime Wednesday ahead of a make-or-break full House vote planned for next week.
\nIf any of the committees fall short, the timetable for ushering in Trump\u2019s priorities could be upended.
\nAs the Republican billionaire seeks to cement his legacy with lasting legislation, every week is considered crucial ahead of 2026 midterm elections that could see his grip on the levers of power weakened.
\nBut the package is threatened by bitter infighting, with conservatives angling for much deeper cuts and moderates worried about threats to health coverage.
\nRepublicans plan to slash more than $700 billion from health care alone, which would leave several million people without coverage, according to a nonpartisan estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.
\nDemocrats have angrily defended at-risk entitlements and hit out at tax cuts they say are a debt-inflating gift to the rich, funded by the middle class.
\nOn the tax front, House Republicans released a nearly 390-page bill Monday detailing where they want to raise revenues to cover Trump\u2019s promised extension of the expiring 2017 tax cuts.
\nThe Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this portion of the package will mean $3.7 trillion in lost revenue between 2025-2034, when savings in the text are taken into account.
\nThe president appears on course to get most of what he wants \u2014 including a four-year pause on tax on tips, overtime and interest on loans for American-made cars.
\nThere are big tax hikes on the endowments of wealthy colleges such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton, and an aggressive roll-back of Joe Biden\u2019s clean energy tax credits.
\nBut Republicans representing districts in high-tax states have rejected as too low a proposed increase in the relief they get in state and local taxes from $10,000 to $30,000.
\nDemocrats hosted a press event at the US Capitol to decry the proposed cuts ahead of the committee meetings, deploying a mobile billboard criticizing Republicans over the Medicaid proposals.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s be clear: There\u2019s nothing moderate, efficient, or reasonable about Donald Trump and Republicans\u2019 dangerous plans to gut health care and force kids to go hungry so they can fund tax handouts for billionaires,\u201d said Democratic National Committee spokesperson Aida Ross.
\nTwenty-five activists were arrested outside one of the committee rooms for \u201cillegally demonstrating,\u201d the US Capitol Police told AFP.
\n\u201cIt is against the law to protest inside the congressional buildings,\u201d the force said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: Republicans geared up Tuesday for a series of crucial votes on Donald Trump\u2019s domestic policy mega-bill, with rows over spending threatening to unravel the US president\u2019s plans for sweeping tax cuts. Three key House committees are slated to finalize and vote on their portions of Trump\u2019s much-touted \u201cbig, beautiful\u201d bill, led by a roughly …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":81000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81002,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80984\/revisions\/81002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}