House GOP eyes new Plan B on extending Trump tax cuts

• Instead of extending tax cuts for 10 years, some Republicans are now considering a five-year extension, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told reporters Wednesday.
• "Do we do five-year policy for some, permanent/10-year for others? I think we're working on that. Those are the levers to pull to try to figure out the math," Roy said.
• The Hill was first to report on GOP discussions for a five-year timeline.

Zoom in: Extending the tax cuts for 10 years could cost $4.6 trillion under the "current law" scoring used by the Congressional Budget Office.

• Republicans will need to either make up for that spending with other cuts or use an alternative accounting standard called "current policy" that would treat the cuts as costing zero.
• Changing the timeline could make the math easier either way, as Roy said.

Zoom out: Senate Republicans are ready to bypass the House with a two-bill approach, Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told Axios on Tuesday.

• The Senate would do a border, energy and defense package first. This would speed up the delivery of funds for Trump's mass deportation efforts.
• They'd leave tax cuts — which don't expire until the end of the year — until after the first package is done.