Lisa Desjardins:
First, one note. I want to remark that today there was an unusual atmosphere on Capitol Hill. It felt a bit like a place on edge. Part of that are the stakes in this bill. It could be one of the historically largest in history.
So I want to talk about Senate Republicans’ draft of some key provisions. So let’s look at what they would change from House Republicans. First of all, they would increase the child tax credit and make it permanent. They would make some business tax cuts permanent as well.
For Medicaid, more cuts in this Senate draft than there are in the House-passed bill. And for solar and wind, those tax credits that are being cut, the Senate would slightly delay them more, but ultimately they would still eliminate them, Senate Republicans.
One more change that is notable, one of my fellow reporters noticed this first. There’s gun provisions in this bill. Remember in the House bill that they ended taxes on silencers. Well, in the Senate bill, they do that, but they also extend that to short-barreled shotguns and rifles, so no taxes and also no regulations. Those would no longer be firearms in this Senate bill.
