Republicans plan to vote on a second round of tax cuts in September, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo Wednesday morning. Brady said that his committee will start holding “listening sessions” with House Republicans next week, with the goal of writing a bill that makes the temporary individual tax cuts permanent.
“The centerpiece is permanence,” Brady said, to ensure that “future Washingtons can’t come back and steal those tax cuts back.” Brady claimed that making the individual tax cuts permanent will boost growth and create 1.5 million jobs.
Bartiromo asked about the fiscal impact of the Republican plan, noting that the White House’s recent update to its budget request showed that the “deficit projections have now doubled” due to spending increases and tax cuts. Brady said that the worsening budget picture is driven solely by increases in spending and that the tax plan is increasing federal revenues.
Brady’s claim inspired the deficit hawks at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget to point out that the tax cuts are in fact responsible for a big chunk of the projected increase in the deficit: “Of next year’s deficit, 23% is due to the tax bill, and almost 20% due to the spending hikes.”
