Republicans are planning to push through legislation to make permanent key provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act if they regain Congress, the Washington Post reported.

As enacted, several of the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, were scheduled to sunset in 2026. 

According to the Post, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) recently released an economic blueprint indicating that the GOP backs legislation that would make permanent many of those provisions of the 2017 tax law—including doubling the standard deduction claimed by most taxpayers and reducing the top rate paid by most taxpayers from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. The blueprint also calls for making permanent a 20 percent deduction claimed by firms operated as pass-through entities, in addition to several other GOP bills aimed at tax incentives for start-up businesses, tax breaks on intellectual property transferred to the United States, deductions on business interest and other provisions intended to make some tax breaks permanent or enact new business tax breaks.

The Post noted that although many economists say that such legislation would be in opposition to GOP promises to fight inflation and reduce the federal deficit, Republicans are hoping that passing it would present President Joe Biden with a dilemma: He would be forced to choose between vetoing the tax cuts—which they believe would present them with a point of attack for the 2024 presidential election—or allowing them to win on a key item in their legislative agenda.

Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), who is seeking to lead the House Ways and Means Committee, said on C-SPAN last month, “We have temporary tax policies that have been good for the middle class—we need to make those permanent.”

The White House has responded with a statement saying that it was planning to resist efforts to expand the law. “While President Biden and congressional Democrats are fighting to make middle class families the heart of our economy. … Republicans want to sell those families out to rich special interests and by doubling down on their 2017 tax giveaway to the ultrawealthy and corporations,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

The Post quoted Steve Rosenthal, a policy analyst at the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, who said, “The Republicans did not want to look like they were giving too much away to businesses, so they had some of the business relief expire and had some offset by business tax increases. … Now to come back and extend business relief and reverse the increases would mean further tilting our tax system toward the rich and the powerful.”

In addition, Republicans are planning to push for government spending reduction, although the specifications of that policy are still hazy. Bloomberg Government reported last week that the four House Republicans seeking to lead the House budget committee are all looking to implement changes to Social Security and Medicare to in order to reduce costs to the federal budget, and that they are seeking to use the debt ceiling or government shutdown to force the issue.

According to the Post, some analysts predict that one likely scenario would be that the extension of the tax cuts would be paired with spending increases sought by Democrats. Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement, for example, that additional business tax relief should only pass if Democrats secure funding for one of their policy priorities, such as the Child Tax Credit. The Post noted that doing both  would increase the deficit even more than only adding spending or only cutting taxes would.

Marc Goldwein, senior vice president at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank that advocates for lower deficits, told the Post, “What I worry about is the kind of horse trading where Republicans get tax cuts, Democrats get expanded tax credits, and the American people are stuck with the bill,”

Jason Furman, a former Obama administration economist who is now a professor at Harvard, said, “The corporate tax cuts the Republicans are pushing would add to inflation, add to the deficit, and do little or nothing for economic growth. They were a budget gimmick to start with. Extending them without paying for them now would be doubling down on the original gimmick.”

Republicans counter that they believe the 2017 legislation has been successful. “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been providing real, substantial relief to families and businesses,” said Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-Mo.), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, in a statement. “We need to build on that success by making permanent those policies that are supporting families and workers while looking at what more needs to be done to the tax code.”