Deficit Trigger News Today

Issued a report contradicting claim will pay for itself and new debt analysis. it was not what republicans needed or wanted. how did they react? >> reporter: didnt go over well at all on capitol hill and helped kill a lot of the momentum that republican leaders had been feeling for good portion of the day. especially earlier having john mccain say he supports the bill. but that report, bill would add a whopping $1 trillion to the deficit over a decade didnt sit well for deficit hawks. namely sen...

Issued a report contradicting claim will pay for itself and new debt analysis. it was not what republicans needed or wanted. how did they react? >> reporter: didnt go over well at all on capitol hill and helped kill a lot of the momentum that republican leaders had been feeling for good portion of the day. especially earlier having john mccain say he supports the bill. but that report, bill would add a whopping $1 trillion to the deficit over a decade didnt sit well for deficit hawks. namely sen...

Minute, phil, whats the actual timeline? i mean, what happens today, tomorrow, and might there actually be the vote happening friday? >> reporter: yeah, i think thats extremely possible. look, right now everybodys in a holding pattern and walking you through behind the scenes right now. there are a couple of issues. i was talking about that deficit trigger. bob corker, jeff flake has been huddling multiple times behind closed doors trying to figure out how to structure it. look, its a complex id...

Problems getting their tax bill passed tonight. lets go to sunlen serfaty. shes on capitol hill tonight. whats the latest? what is happening? >> unexpected drama here in the senate, showing how delicate these negotiations over the republican tax plan are happening. ill show you some pictures. this happened on the senate floor. this should have been a simple procedural vote, a democratic amendment that would have sent the bill back to committee for three days. republicans should have voted that d...

Exactly whats going on. also in that huddle, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, john corner, number three, john thune. ive spoken to several aids right now who acknowledge, they did not expect this was going to happen. theyre not totally sure whats happening right now, except they understand that this is a continuation of negotiations that have been going on and frankly somewhat frustrating to some of those involved throughout the day. to give you context here, republican leaders throughout...

Millions of dollars on life insurance. back with our political specialists epts to go back to capitol hill. the latest drama on the senate floor. republicans ran into a roadblock. what are you hearing, phil? >> reporter: the issue thats frustrating republicans all day has come to almost a head right now. im being told that the deficit trigger, the issue that republicans were huddled in the senate well talking about why that amendment vote almost went in a very bad direction for republicans who...

Something in return for her acts to this point. that is the state and local tax deduction. the senate matching what the house did essentially allowing the property tax deduction, capped at $10,000. then wuf the deficit, job corker, jeff flake, theyve made very clear it shouldnt add to the deficit in the long run. how are they going to accomplish that given that growth, this kind of magical thing they cant prove with numbers on the outset doesnt necessarily prove itself out? well, they want a def...

Its due. he was helping in this process. lets talk about the deficit trigger. this is something that is getting a lot of attention as well. this idea that you would automatically raise taxes if these really optimistic growth targets arent met and the deficit balloons. that sounds really hard to do. >> yeah, and it makes me think of things theyve done in the past that have sort of taken on lives of their own. things like the doc fix without getting into the details of that and the amt patch, they...

The gop tax bill. talk to me about whats going on. >> reporter: there certainly was a lot of drama tonight, don. and i can tell you behind the scenes, right now republican leaders up here on capitol hill are still scrambling, essentially to salvage their tax bill. earlier this evening, there was a moment of high drama on the senate floor where you saw a bob corker, senator bob corker, really surrounded by republican leadership when the vote was being held. there was a lot of debate, with a lot o...

Trigger that would raise taxes automatically if the growth projections were not met. bob corker was okay with this bill, as long as there was a deficit trigger. that, essentially, got killed tonight. that set off a scramble, because republican leaders are facing the very real potential that bob corker and potentially others, like ron johnson, could bail on this bill at such a late hour. so as of now, the scramble is still on and they are still working out ways to move forward. >> yeah, its going...