Washington Wednesday: A billion here, a billion there

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 14th of May.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Time now for Washington Wednesday.

President Donald Trump has begun the process of trying to set in stone many of the executive orders he’s signed since January.

He’s working with Congress to do that with a budget bill. Using a tool called reconciliation, Republicans have the ability to pass laws on border security, tax policy and spending cuts without any Democrat votes if the GOP can stick together.

MAST: Here now with more about the top items is WORLD’s Washington Bureau reporter Leo Briceno.

LEO BRICENO: After approving a budget outline last month, lawmakers are now busy writing up the specifics.

SMITH: This committee will come to order. Today, this committee will move forward on President Trump’s promise of delivering historic tax relief for working families, farmers, and small businesses. The one big beautiful bill is key to making America great again.

That’s congressman Jason Smith of Missouri. He chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, the body in charge of drafting the nation’s laws on taxes. The committee worked late into the night in a markup hearing yesterday for that portion of Trump’s legislative package.

When the committees bring their portions together, the bill will increase spending for areas like national security at the border and with defense, but also cut spending and taxes. The question is whether those three things will balance out or force the government to keep spending in the deficit.

The easy part for Republicans is spending on the border.

While illegal border crossings in April are down 88% from last year thanks to robust enforcement, Republicans want to boost spending on infrastructure and programs to keep it that way. I caught up with Tennessee Congressman Mark Green, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, in the Capitol basement.

GREEN: The last presidency failed to enforce any of the laws so we need other systems in place that make it impossible for a future president like the last one we had to violate the law and let millions of people into the country.

That’s going to come down to investing in practical, tangible improvements. Congressman Michael Guest of Mississippi sits on the House Homeland Security Committee and is the chairman of its border security and enforcement subcommittee.

GUEST: A large percentage of that are facility related, walls, border security, some additional physical facilities there on the border, the hiring of additional agents, and technology, and I think those things are key.

And even in spending increases, Guest says Republicans are looking for savings. While the boost to Homeland Security spending is significant, the committee’s proposal unveiled earlier this month came in below the amount in last month’s budget framework.

GUEST: We were authorized in the reconciliation instructions to spend up to 90 billion. We didn’t spend that amount. We spent just over 69 billion. And so we, being the Homeland Security Committee, worked very closely with the administration to see exactly what they needed to make sure that we funded what they needed but that we weren’t funding things that were unnecessary.

Another big priority is more complicated…delivering on tax cuts. The bill would make good on Trump’s promise to cut taxes on tips and overtime pay. Here’s Congressman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

HERN: And we’re going to pass the agenda the president Trump won the presidency on because if we don’t, we’re not doing what the American people said they wanted him to do, which is make some changes.

But adding new tax cuts might require scaling back reductions from Trump’s first administration. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act trimmed the bill across the board for businesses and individuals. Lawmakers hope to renew those cuts…but in order to keep from adding to the national deficit, experts worry they may need to limit the lifespan of some of them. Here’s Erica York, Vice President at the Tax Policy Foundation.

YORK: When you shorten those provisions, when you don’t make them permanent, businesses don’t have the certainty they need to actually step up their investment in a permanent way.

York says businesses with high building costs—like manufacturing and agriculture—could bear the brunt when some of those tax extensions come to an end.

YORK: It extends those provisions for five years which might get you a little bit of activity in those initial years but it's not going to get you permanently improved incentives for businesses to invest in the United States.

Another tax question lawmakers face is what will happen to rules for how much individuals can deduct from their federal taxes by paying their state and local taxes—referred to as “SALT.”

In 2017, lawmakers capped SALT deductions. High-earning taxpayers can deduct only $10,000 from their federal taxes, where they used to be able to deduct up to the full amount. The cap prevents individuals in high-tax states from paying less federal taxes than individuals in low-tax states.

But lawmakers from states like New York and California want to remove or at least raise that cap. The reconciliation bill would raise it to $30,000, though some lawmakers say that’s not enough.

Here’s New York Congressman Mike Lawler on a podcast with Bloomberg news after the tax portion of the bill was unveiled on Monday evening.

LAWLER: This bill, as written with a 30,000 cap, for those making under $400,000 is just woefully inadequate. So no this does not have my support. And if this bill comes to the floor for a vote, I will vote no.

With Republicans only able to spare 3 votes, these kinds of disagreements threaten the whole bill. And then there’s the question of how to pay for it, after all, in order to increase spending on defense and cut taxes, money has to be moved from somewhere. The challenge committees are working on now is what to cut.

The committee on Energy and Commerce proposes changing rules for Medicaid in an attempt to find up to $880 billion in savings over 10 years.

One of those proposed cuts would end funding for nonprofit organizations offering family planning or reproductive services alongside abortion.

If that sounds really specific, that’s because it is. While the provision is a broadside against abortion businesses generally, its main target is the nation’s largest abortion provider.

PRICHARD: I mean this would hugely impact Planned Parenthood

That’s Kelsey Prichard, Director of State Public Affairs for the group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

PRICHARD: We almost got it done in 2017 when it was a part of the repeal and replace Obamacare package.

That provision came to the Senate floor eight years ago, but fell short by one vote.

Abortion supporters argue that Congress should not be concerned about Planned Parenthood’s funding, since the federal law known as the Hyde Amendment prohibits federal dollars from directly funding abortions. But Prichard says dollars intended to help low income Americans get medical care are subsidizing an organization increasingly focused on abortion.

PRICHARD Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding has increased since 2010 by 43% and during that same timeframe cancer screenings, breast exams, pap smears have all dropped by more than 70%. Now there are top three services that are up—and the top three services that they provide are abortions, gender transitions and political spending on Democrats and woke politics.

Despite hesitations from some lawmakers—especially moderates from states like New York and California—Prichard says Susan B. Anthony has been hard at work, urging lawmakers and their offices to support the measure.

PRICHARD: We’ve gotten so close before. And so just the history of this also gives us confidence that we can get it done this year.

Eleven House committees are working to put meat on the bones of Trump’s legislative package for everything from agriculture to transportation. Leaders in both chambers aim to get the final legislation done around July 4th. Once the legislation makes it past the committees, the next big test for the bill, and Republicans in Congress, will be getting it to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leo Briceno in Washington, D.C.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.