Republicans need to make tough choices to save the Trump tax cuts

The nation urgently needs Congress to save the Trump tax cuts, but Republicans in Congress are going to need some fancy footwork to make that happen.To get any budget items passed, GOP lawmakers — and President Donald Trump himself — will need to accept compromises.Blame the math.For starters, cementing votes will be a monster hurdle, since GOP control in each house is dangerously thin.Equally problematic: If all the Trump tax cuts pass, revenue won’t cover spending — and the last thing Republicans will want to do is increase red ink.Trump & Co.will have to jettison some of their pet tax rollbacks, or find more spending cuts.As for corralling votes, consider: In the Senate, Republicans can bypass a Democratic filibuster (which requires 60 votes to break), but only if they confine their bill to budget issues.And even so, they hold just 53 seats, so can’t lose more than three just to get a simple majority.The House has no comparable filibuster, but with just a 218-215 edge, Republicans can lose just two votes — one, if Rep.

Elise Stefanik (NY) quits to become UN ambassador and leaves her seat vacant.And GOP hardliners have already proven they’ll make common cause with Democrats if they don’t get their way.Dems, meanwhile, have threatened to block GOP budget bills they’re not happy with, even if it means shutting down the government.No wonder House Republicans hope to dispense all their tax-and-spend issues in “one big, beautiful bill,” as Trump calls it: They fear they’ll only get one chance to muster a majority.Yet that conflicts with the Senate’s preference: to pass one bill immediately, providing funds for defense and immigration, and another later to save Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which expire this year.An even bigger problem: Making all of Trump’s tax cuts risks driving up an already astronomical deficit even more.On Thursday, the key House committee passed an initial blueprint calling for a maximum $4.5 trillion in tax cuts — we...