Now that the long-awaited framework has been released, the hard work of tax reform can begin: fleshing out the skeleton and answering the many lingering questions, like how to offset trillions of dollars in lost revenue and who should benefit — or lose — from the changes.
The process of developing today's blueprint was led by six members of Congress and the Trump administration. Now, the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate will get to weigh in, along with hundreds of their congressional colleagues. The blueprint released Wednesday intentionally left many of the toughest decisions for Congress to resolve so as to delay an inevitable barrage of criticism and lobbying from lawmakers, business groups and other special interests looking to defend specific tax breaks.
But that firestorm is coming, even as many Republicans seem to have developed some consensus around the idea that the tax changes could add $1.5 trillion to the debt over 10 years. “I hope that people will have the intestinal fortitude it’s going to take to do it right,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said Tuesday. “People say the health care was hard — you have no idea. You have no idea how this is going to be.”
