Republicans Advance Trillion-Dollar Tax Cuts As Trump Threatens To Blow Up Economy

Tariffs? What tariffs? Senate Republicans are rushing to pass tax cuts while odds of an economic recession spike.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are on track to adopt a budget resolution this weekend outlining over $5 trillion in deficit-busting tax cuts sought by corporate America, pressing forward with their legislative agenda even as President Donald Trump’s tariffs threaten to cause a recession and hike prices for millions of consumers.

The vote will likely occur on Saturday after fierce debate on the Senate floor and an overnight marathon session of votes on amendments offered by Democrats designed to divide Republicans in hopes of making fodder for attacks ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

“This resolution is the first step toward a final bill to make permanent the tax relief we implemented in 2017 and deliver a transformational investment in our border, national and energy security — all accompanied by substantial savings measures and commonsense reforms to our government,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Republicans are rushing to pass their tax cut package amid growing fears of economic calamity at home and abroad, which could derail their agenda. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that Trump’s unprecedented tariffs are likely to raise inflation and slow U.S. economic growth. He warned that higher inflation could be persistent, not temporary. JPMorgan also raised its odds for a U.S. and global recession to 60%.

The budget resolution calls for permanently extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and cutting an additional $1.5 trillion in taxes. It would spend over $300 billion on defense and energy and hike the debt limit by $5 trillion, an eye-popping sum for a party that claims to be concerned about the nation’s fiscal health and far greater than what former President Joe Biden added to the debt in his four years in charge.