“As Republicans prepare the party-line tax bill at the core of their 2025 agenda, the key to everything is, simply, ‘The Number,'” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The Number is the maximum budget deficit increase that Republicans are willing to tolerate as they extend tax cuts scheduled to expire after 2025 and advance the rest of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans.
To unlock the gate to the legislative fast track that lets them sidestep Democratic objections, Republicans must agree, with virtually no defections, on The Number.”“It is a fraught conversation that is just starting, now that Republicans have won the Senate and stand close to winning enough seats for narrow control of the House. The intraparty debate will expose the tensions between deficit hawks and tax cutters, and perhaps require Trump to be a referee.”