Summary:
- Trump plans to meet today with Senate Republicans
- Senate floor vote on tax plan expected Thursday or Friday
- USD edging higher ahead of Powell
This week could be remembered as a pivotal one for the Trump administration, with the long-promised GOP tax plan set to be voted on in the Senate. The vote itself is expected to occur late on Thursday or early on Friday and with no support for the bills passage expected from the Democrats, the Republicans can afford to lose only two members of their own party.
The USD is edging higher today, looking to recoup some of its recent declines. Source: xStation
8 Republican senators who could well decide on whether this bill passes or not are as follows:
Bob Corker, Jeff flake and James Lankford
Corker has taken a hard-line against letting tax legislation add to federal deficits, stating that a single penny of extra deficit would lose his vote. According to a Congressional Budget Office report released on Sunday the Senate bill would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit.
Corker wants a backstop mechanism – simply a tax-increase trigger that would raise revenue should the promised growth from the tax cuts not materialise. Both Flake and Lankford also support this kind of trigger.
Trump tweeted earlier this month that Jeff Flake would be a “NO on tax cuts because his political career anyway is toast”.
Ron Johnson and Steve Daines
The first Republican to come out against the bill was Johnson who stated his concern that the legislation gives an advantage to large corporations at the expense of “pass-through” businesses. Johnson wants to give owners who may be paying an effective tax rate of 30% after the bill (despite the corporate rate being cut to 20%). Daines, feels similarly but an aide of his said that he remains optimistic the legislaiton will change enough to win his vote.
Susan Collins
Collins is a moderate from Maine and the only Republican senator from a reliably Democratic-leaning state. She was initially warm to the tax bill but has cooled after party leaders opted to add repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate to help limit deficits. She also opposes lowering the top individual rate from 39.6% to 38.5%
John McCain
After voting against the Affordable Care Act this summer Mccain’s vote can’t be taken for granted. So far, he has seemed positive tot he bill but he is yet to take an official position on the legislation.
Jerry Moran
Believed to be sensitive about the impacts of the bill in the wake of Kansas’s failed tax-cut experiment which ended this year to escape a fiscal crisis.
Before the Senate vote, there will be a focus this afternoon on the next Fed chair Jerome Powell who is set to testify before a Senate committee.