The U.S. Senate has moved the Trump administration's first major piece of legislation forward, which includes raising the cap on state and local tax deduction and no action on limiting tax-exempt municipal bonds as it extends many of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's provisions.
"We are looking at the opportunity to make the 2017 tax relief permanent," said Senate Leader John Thune during a floor speech on Saturday.
"We're adding to the 2017 tax relief with new pro-growth provisions, like a provision to boost domestic manufacturing by implementing full expensing for new factories and factory improvements. Thanks to the pro-growth provisions in our legislation, we can expect to see GDP as much as 4.9% higher as a result of our bill."
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was paid for nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts, which the new bill makes permanent. The cuts were due to expire this year.
The Congressional Budget Office has priced the cost of the new legislation saying it will add at least $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. The number is higher than the estimated costs of the House's $2.4 trillion version.
The Senate's deficit also doesn't include additional borrowing costs that would push the number closer to $4 trillion.
To help justify the addition spending the Senate is not counting the extra costs incurred by keeping the 2017 tax cuts in place, an accounting gimmick, known as "current policy baseline," that's legitimacy is still being argued.
Counting out the dollars using the current policy baseline shows a budget reduction of roughly $500 billion.
"Rather than be honest with the American people about the true costs of their billionaire giveaways, Republicans are doing something the Senate has never, never done before, deploying fake math and accounting gimmicks to hide the true cost of their bill," said Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer D - N.Y.
"Republicans can use whatever budgetary gimmicks they want to try and make the math work on paper, but you can't paper over the real-life consequences of adding trillions to the debt."
On Monday, the Senate is debating and voting on various possible amendments to the bill, a process known as vote-a-rama.
A list of current winners and losers prepared by the CBO shows the adjustments to the SALT cap deduction, which goes from $10,000 to $40,000 until 2030 as a $946 billion savings.
Expanding the low-income housing tax credit which affects the use of private activity bonds and is popular with housing advocates is scored as a $16 billion cost.
There is also a provision currently in place that allows spaceports to issue tax-exempt bonds with a cost of $1 billion.
There are multiple new restrictions being proposed for Medicaid payments including adding work requirements, that accounts for $317 billion in savings.
Clean energy provisions are a mixed bag of extending and limiting different programs and policies.
The 51-49 vote to advance the legislation to the next stage included two GOP defections. Sens. Rand Paul R- Ky., and Thom Tillis R-N.C. both voted "no." Paul is considered a budget hawk who is objecting to raising the country's debt ceiling.
Tillis has doubt about how the bill treats Medicaid funding and announced on Saturday he would not be running for reelection.
Last minute converts to putting the bill onto the floor for debate includes Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rick Scott, R- Fla., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska.
None of the Democrats are in support, as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., used his clout to force an out-loud reading of the 940-page bill, a process that started late Saturday and ran into Sunday afternoon, lasting nearly 16 hours.
President Trump began a victory lap via posts on Truth Social declaring his pride in the Republican party and announcing the movement as a "great victory."
