GOP, Dems to square off over Trump's sweeping tax plan in high-stakes meeting today

A sweeping piece of legislation unveiled by the House Ways & Means Committee on Monday would follow through on Trump's campaign promises to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay, as well as permanently extending the president's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), among other provisions.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he wants House Republicans to pass their version of Trump's bill by Memorial Day or "shortly thereafter," as he told Fox News Digital in an interview late last month.

House and Senate Republicans are working on Trump's agenda via the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party in power to sideline the minority by lowering the Senate's threshold for passage to a simple majority, provided the legislation at hand deals with spending, taxes or the national debt.

Ways & Means Committee lawmakers are expected to meet for at least several hours on Tuesday to mark up debate on the bill. 

It could go even longer, however. A Ways & Means Committee markup meeting in 2021, when Democrats were trying to pass Build Back Better, lasted over 35 hours over four days due to Republicans dragging the process out in opposition to then-President Joe Biden's progressive tax policies.

Democrats are expected to put up an aggressive fight on Tuesday as well, having already accused Trump of trying to cut taxes for the wealthy while gutting critical programs for low-income Americans.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., a member of the committee, posted on X on Monday, "Going over line-by line last minute 389-page amendment to the Republican tax bill in our committee today. They have provisions that touch everyone: the richest people get huge tax cuts, working people lose their healthcare and future generations get the bill because it adds $5 trillion to the national debt!"

A portion released by the House Ways & Means Committee over the weekend would increase the current maximum Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $2,500. Trump's TCJA had doubled the maximum from $1,000 to $2,000 in 2017.

It would also boost the maximum deduction for qualified business income, a tax provision known as 199A, from 20% to 22%. That would largely affect small business owners whose entities are taxed under individual income tax rates.

Trump's promise to eliminate taxes on Social Security for retirees is tackled via giving seniors a higher standard deduction.

"It puts the interests of low-income, working families ahead of the wealthy by expanding tax relief to those who need it the most - including the President's priorities of no tax on tips and overtime pay and additional relief for America's seniors," House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., said in a statement.

The legislation also cracks down on big colleges and universities, including Ivy Leagues like Harvard University, which are locked in a battle over free speech with the White House. It is targeting those larger schools with higher excise taxes, which are federal duties paid on net earnings of the schools' investments.

That rate is currently 1.4%, but the legislation would bring it to as high as 21% for the largest schools, like Harvard and Yale University.

The nearly 400-page legislation must pass the Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday before being added back to a larger legislative framework, which will include similar bills from 10 other House committees dealing with policies under their jurisdiction.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee, for instance, is also meeting on Tuesday afternoon to advance its portion of the bill. The broad-ranging committee has jurisdiction over Medicaid, Medicare, energy production and telecommunications.

The full House and Senate must pass identical versions of the final bill before it gets to Trump's desk for a signature.

Fox News' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.