Senate Democrats Seek to Squash GOP Scoring Method

“Senate Democratic staff is meeting with the chamber’s referee office Monday in a bid to stop Republicans from using a controversial scoring method on their upcoming tax bill,” Bloomberg reports.

“The meeting between staff for the Senate Budget Committee and Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough gives Democrats a rare opening to halt Republicans’ plans to score an extension of the expiring parts of the 2017 tax law as a continuation of ‘current policy’ rather than ‘current law.'”

“Doing so would essentially zero out the estimated $4.6 trillion deficit impact of the extension.”

Politico: “Whether the Senate’s nonpartisan rule-keeper allows this accounting tactic, known as current policy baseline, is pivotal to Republicans’ intent to advance a party-line package of tax cuts and military spending, along with border security investments, energy policy and more.”