Senate Begins Putting Stamp on Trump Tax, Debt Limit Bill (2)

Significant changes are in store for President Donald Trump’s signature $3.9 trillion tax-cut bill as the Senate begins closed-door talks this week on legislation that squeaked through the House by a single vote.

Senate Republican leaders intend to make permanent many of the temporary tax cuts in the House bill, a move that would increase the bill’s more than $2.5 trillion deficit impact. But doing so risks alienating fiscal hawks already at war with party moderates over the bill’s safety-net cuts.

Senate Republican leadership, from left, John Barrasso, John Thune, and Shelley Moore Capito during a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington.

Photographer: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg

It amounts to a game of chess further complicated by the top Senate rules-keeper, who will decide ...