WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Trump, Congress and $4.1 trillion budget plan (all times local):
6:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump is rooting for fellow Senate Republicans to succeed in efforts to pass a massive $4.1 trillion budget plan. But in a tweet before daybreak Thursday, the president said, “I think we have the votes, but who knows?”
Trump noted in the post that “Republicans are going for the big Budget approval today, first step toward massive tax cuts.”
Trump and Senate Republicans are buoyed about prospects for passage of the budget blueprint because if Congress completes action on this legislation, it will set the stage for majority Republicans to focus more intensively on the tax overhaul legislation. Trump campaigned on the issue and GOP lawmakers have embraced it.
They are all hoping for a smashing legislative victory to atone for the party’s failure to deliver on it’s long-promised effort to repeal former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
4:19 a.m.
Senate Republicans are on track to pass a $4 trillion budget plan that shelves GOP deficit concerns in favor of the party’s drive to cut taxes.
The nonbinding budget plan, slated for a vote late Thursday, would set the stage for tax legislation later this year that could pass through the Senate without fear of a filibuster by Democrats — and add $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years.
The upcoming tax measure, always a top item on the GOP agenda this year, has taken on even greater urgency with the failure of the party to carry out its longstanding promise to repeal former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
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