Meredith Lee Hill at Politico:
House Republicans in competitive districts warned GOP leaders Thursday: We could lose our seats if you gut Obamacare to pay for a massive border, energy and tax bill.
A group of about a dozen centrist Republicans delivered the message in a meeting with GOP Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and other senior lawmakers, according to four Republicans familiar with the meeting who were granted anonymity to speak frankly. GOP members are already concerned that they’re poised to lose their trifecta and a swath of seats in the 2026 midterms — they worry GOP efforts to pare back the Affordable Care Act could pour fuel on the fire.
GOP tax writers are gathering support for creative ways to make the price tag $0 for extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts.
Why it matters: The procedural and budgetary gambit will free Republicans from the burden of finding the $4 trillion in spending cuts. But deficit hawks, including member of the House Freedom Caucus, haven't completely signed off on the novel approach.
Zoom in: Scott Bessent, Trump's nominee for Treasury secretary, has privately indicated to senators that he's sympathetic to their view that the cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts should be zero, according to people familiar with the matter.
By the numbers: Under a "current law baseline," extending Trump's personal and estate tax cuts will cost $4 trillion over 10 years.The tax cuts expire at the end of 2025, and the Congressional Budget Office has to score how much revenue the Treasury will miss if Congress passes it for another 10 years.
But what if Congress runs the numbers from a different starting point, and considers "current policy"?
Current policy has the tax cuts in place (at least until the end of the year). Among friends, say Republicans, what if we use current policy as the baseline? Then extending the tax cuts will cost … zero.
