Tamara Keith:
Yes, there are a lot of mathematical challenges that they’re facing. However, in terms of the political math, when it comes down to it, this one big, beautiful bill, as the president has dubbed it, contains essentially his entire domestic policy agenda for his presidency.
It includes money for immigration enforcement, and it includes money for the military, which he can point to this mission and say, look, we need this. And it also includes these tax cuts, which, if it fails, taxes would go up, not by as much as he says, but taxes would go up.
And so in a lot of ways for Republicans, it is too big to fail, too important to fail. They have to find a way to get to yes. That is what the White House is betting on. And they are insisting — I talked to a White House official over the weekend who said, oh, no, we’re really serious about this July 4 deadline, we want it on the president’s desk.
I don’t know how practical that is, especially given everything else that’s happening this. The president needs to be working the phones right now if he wants to get this through the Senate this week. And he’s working the phones also to the Middle East. He has a lot on his plate.
But certainly the White House is going to push this and they’re going to make it very painful for any Republicans who stray.
