Thune's "stretch goal"
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John Thune sketched an ambitious timetable for passing a compromise budget bill, telling members of the Finance Committee on Monday night that they need to move quickly to meet a July 4 deadline for President Trump's signature.
Why it matters: Pens need to be put down soon. The Senate GOP leader is signaling to his conference that debating and drafting will need to end if they want to meet their self-imposed deadline.
- "The leadership is going to try to hit the president's goal of getting this done by July 4, which means things are going to have to move much faster," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters.
- Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), said the target was for the Finance Committee to get a draft out by the end of the week, describing that as "a stretch goal."
Zoom in: There are still deep concerns in the GOP conference about the ratio of tax and spending cuts, as well as Medicaid spending and which green energy tax cuts to preserve — and for how long.
- "I didn't hear the leader say no to anybody," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said after the meeting.
Zoom out: Senators expect the White House to get more involved soon to help resolve their differences. Thune met with Trump today.
- The president also spoke to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) who claimed Trump "said again, NO MEDICAID BENEFIT CUTS," on X.
Between the lines: Senate GOPers have for months been telegraphing some of the tax policy changes they want to make.
- It's long been a goal of Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to make three provisions of Trump's 2017 tax bill — the R&D deduction, bonus depreciation and interest expensing — permanent.
- They expire after five years in the House version.
- And there's a desire to lower the $40,000 SALT deduction that blue-state House Republicans fought so hard to include in their version.
— Hans Nichols
