Senate republicans move to extend 2017 tax cuts

Republicans in the U.S. Senate are expected to take an important step this weekend toward enacting President Trump's priorities. That includes extending the 2017 tax cuts.

The 2017 tax cuts were not permanent. They are currently set to expire at the end of this year. How to account for the potential cost of extending them into the future will have a major impact on what the GOP’s "big beautiful bill" ultimately looks like.

"They're wanting it to expire. What we're saying is, let's keep it and keep it from expiring, so we're just going to keep current tax policy in place," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma).

Mullin and Republicans argue that using current policy as the baseline makes sense and means they wouldn't have to account for more than $4 trillion in lost tax revenue if the baseline were based on the law, which shows the tax cuts expiring.

"What we're saying is we're never going to let it expire. It's going to be the policy's going to become permanent," he said. "Therefore, you actually don't assume the $4 trillion."

Democrats accuse the traditionally fiscally conservative Republicans of using the gimmick of a 'current policy baseline' to perpetuate a lie to the American people.

"That these Trump tax scams don't cost a penny anymore... Five trillion dollars all of the sudden—poof! Gone! Zero. I guess the next thing we're going to hear from my Republican colleagues is that the debt in America is now zero," Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico) said.

Mullin says the tax cuts have benefited all Americans, and he doesn't believe extending them will add to the national debt.

"No, it's going to keep current policy in place. How is it going to increase something that we're currently operating underneath right now?"

A vote on the Senate budget resolution is likely to happen Saturday.