Republicans Ready to Drop the Hammer – Here’s How Trump’s Tax Cuts Could Become Permanent
The Trump tax cuts are poised to become a permanent fixture of American prosperity, and Senate Republicans are gearing up to wield the gavel to make it happen—come hell or high water. As the current budget reconciliation process unfolds, House and Senate GOP lawmakers are locked in a fierce debate over deficit concerns, but one thing is non-negotiable: making the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent. According to Bloomberg Government, Senate Republicans have drawn a hard line, with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) declaring to reporters, “Unless it’s permanent, we’re not going to support it.” Meanwhile, House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is pushing back, warning that any Senate move to inflate tax cuts at the expense of spending cuts “would not go well, at least not with me.”
President Donald Trump’s vision is crystal clear: extend these cuts indefinitely to turbocharge the economy for decades, a priority as critical as securing the border, deporting illegal aliens, and finishing the wall. The 2017 cuts, which even Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) once criticized for not going far enough, delivered real benefits to most Americans—despite the legacy media’s tired refrain that they favor the wealthy, a line they peddled with the Bush tax cuts too, which Democrats quietly helped make permanent in 2013.
The sticking point? How the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores the $4.6 trillion cost over a decade. Senate Republicans, led by Finance Committee Chair Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), are eyeing a game-changing maneuver: shifting from the “current law” baseline, which marks the cuts as expiring, to a “current policy” baseline, assuming they’re already law and thus cost nothing. As Crapo told reporters, “It recognizes that extending current law does not change the tax policy, does not reduce tax revenue.” This “nuclear option” for budgeting, as NBC News calls it, could unlock not just the 2017 cuts but Trump’s new proposals like slashing taxes on tips and overtime pay—driving Democrats wild and cementing Trump’s economic legacy.
Posts on X, like CNNPolitics:
.@jaketapper: “Next year, 91% of middle income Americans will receive a tax cut. Isn’t that a good thing?”@BernieSanders: “Yeah, it is a very good thing. And that’s why we should’ve made the tax cuts for the middle class permanent” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/ei8xTHGo1E
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 24, 2017
Or this one:
Left-leaning tax policy center finds that 80.4% of Americans would see a tax cut in 2018. The average decrease would be $2,140. Only 4.8% would see a tax increase.https://t.co/2UVcvrom6d pic.twitter.com/52F9uDx90Z
— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 19, 2017
They highlight the stakes, but the noise from the left can’t drown out the truth: this is a fight worth winning. Any GOP wavering risks party treason—stay focused, pass this budget, and let Trump’s vision soar.
Mark Van der Veen offers some of the most analytical and insightful writings on politics. He regularly opines on the motives and political calculations of politicians and candidates, and whether or not their strategy will work. Van der Veen offers a contrast to many on this list by sticking mainly to a fact-based style of writing that is generally combative with opposing ideologies.
