Senate GOP Upends Rules with Accounting Gimmick

New York Times: “This time around, Senate Republicans are instead invoking an alternative accounting method that wipes away the cost of extending tax cuts already in place. Republicans argue that the tax cuts they originally passed in 2017, which expire at the end of the year, should be baked into the country’s fiscal forecasts even though Congress has not yet actually renewed them. By that logic, the $3.8 trillion cost of extending the 2017 cuts is zero, and those cuts can be extended for decades even though reconciliation’s rules prohibit long-term deficit increases.”

“The entire Senate Republican bill relies on this view of the tax cuts’ costs. Without this accounting assumption, the legislation would run afoul of Senate rules and require Republicans to rework the entire 940-page project, which President Trump has demanded be ready for his signature by July 4.”

Wall Street Journal: GOP declares tax-cut extensions “free” to obscure megabill’s cost.