Republican Move to Mask $3.8 Trillion Tax-Cut Cost Rings Alarms

Senate Republicans are aiming to wipe away some $3.8 trillion of federal budget red ink from the GOP’s signature tax-and-spending bill with an unprecedented parliamentary maneuver, stoking concerns about long-term US fiscal policy.

Republicans are using a fast-track legislative process known as reconciliation, which will allow them to make President Donald Trump’s 2017 income-tax cuts permanent without Democratic support. The cost of such legislation has long been measured by comparing it to what would otherwise happen to the federal budget under the current law.

Senate Republicans want to start with a different assumption: that the current policy remains in ...